Digimon Hacked!
by TheGreatElisaMousy
Summary: Computer viruses have taken physical form, creating chaos throughout the internet. As a countermeasure, the Japanese government has chosen the best young minds in the country to enter the internet and defeat the problem at the source, each given their own intelligent antivirus to help them.
1. Into the Net

**Well, here I am with another Digimon series. I hope you enjoy, though I admit I'm making a lot of this up as I go along. Also, if you've just found me through this series, be sure to check out Digimon Academy. It's already finished, along with its second season, so it may be a good thing to read bits and pieces of while you wait for the next episode. Well, without further ado, here comes Digimon Hacked!**

The Japanese government had put together a special force to defend against cyber-terrorists, a rising threat to the Asian country. Daichi Kagurazaka, the head of this force, stared down at the monitors, unable to believe the sight before him.

"Sir, the virus is spreading faster than we can counter it," Yue Tachikawa, his second in command, informed him. "It's almost as though it can think for itself."

"So, the time's finally come when Artificial Intelligence has been programmed by hackers," Daichi said, rubbing his temples.

Yue hesitated. "Sir, I think it might be... more than that. Yes, an AI, if programmed correctly, could think for itself to a certain extent, the technology just doesn't exist yet to make it this advanced."

"Are you trying to tell me this virus is actually alive?" he asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"As difficult as it is to believe, yes, I am," Yue replied grimly. "If this keeps up, Japan won't stand a chance."

"You sound like you have an idea," Daichi commented.

"I do," the woman informed him. "Is _it_ ready yet?" she asked, knowing that her boss would know exactly what she was talking about.

"Almost, why?" he asked.

She took a deep breath, knowing that her idea may sound crazy. "We can't wait to test it. We have to use it as soon as it's ready. We have to send someone into the internet."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Hana Harusawa leaned back in her chair, glad to be home. She and her parents had spent a long time overseas, so it was good to be back in her apartment. She'd been entered in an international math competition and had, naturally, won. She was considered a genius for her age, but her specialty was math. She had to potential to go to college now, even though she was only fourteen, but she wanted to be able to live a relatively normal teenage life. She had no idea what she wanted to do later in life, so why should she go to college now?

For the moment, she was content with her 4.0 GPA in eighth grade.

Twisting a strand of dirty blonde hair with her finger, Hana stared at her ceiling. She had been out of school for three months, but her teachers had given her the material she needed so that she wouldn't get behind.

As if.

The pile had been finished within the second week over her trip. She'd been fascinated with numbers since she was little, so she didn't even have to look at the notes or open her textbook to do the math work, which made up the bulk of her homework.

"Hana!" he mother called from downstairs. She stood and went to see what she wanted. When she got to the living room, there were two men in suits standing with her mom and dad.

"What's up?" she asked.

Before her mother had the chance to speak, one of the men said, "Hana Harusawa, we need your help."

"My help?" she asked, crossing her arms. "The _government_ needs _my_ help? A math geek? What for?"

"We need your help in protecting our country," the second man said.

Hana looked at her mother. She didn't seem surprised. Had the men already explained whatever it was they needed from her? "Alright," she began. "I'm listening."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yumi Orihara dropped her hands from her keyboard, studying her handiwork. All it would take was the press of a key and all her grades would be changed. Most weren't too bad, but they could always be better. Her gym grade, however, was horrible. That needed to change, but she wasn't really built for athletics. She was of medium height, but had a very slim frame. Not exactly much help when they were playing basketball. She was too easy to be tossed around.

She was just about to press the key when she heard a knock on her door. She hastily minimized the window, knowing she'd get in trouble if she was caught. Her parents had found out about her hacking habit a long time ago, but they knew there wasn't much they could do. They did, however, forbid her from doing things like this.

She was surprised to find a woman in a suit opening her door. "Yumi Orihara, I'd like to speak to you about something."

"Like what?" she asked, masking her nervousness. She had hacked the government more than once. She never left any viruses, and thought she'd covered her tracks well enough. How had they found her?

"Your hacking skills," the woman said. "There's a problem, and we need your help."

"Why me?" Yumi asked.

"You know computers better than anyone else in the country. We need what you know," the woman replied. "Now, will you hear me out?"

Yumi paused. "Since you know about my hacking, I guess you know that I've been in government systems?" she asked.

"Multiple times." The woman smiled. "We're willing to overlook that, though, if you help us."

"So you're blackmailing me?" Yumi crossed her arms.

"We really need your help, one way or another," the woman told her. "If that's what it takes to get you in, then that's what we'll do."

"Fine," the hacker replied. "What do you need me for?"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Kiira Wakui double checked her work, making sure that all her sentences were in the right tense. She never got it wrong, but it didn't hurt to check. After all, her mom's job often depended on her work.

Ever since she was little, Kiira was able to pick up on languages very easily. She learned and retained all grammar rules within a week, and spent the next month pouring over translation dictionaries to learn the language. Her mother was a nurse, but she was charged with sending medical records when a patient of hers visited or moved to a different country, and received the records of new citizens. She wasn't always fluent in some of the languages, however.

That was where Kiira came in. After being sworn to secrecy, she translated the documents for her mother. At the moment, she spoke Japanese, English, Spanish, Russian, German, French, Italian, Greek, Chinese, and Arabic. People often didn't believe her when she said she knew that many languages, so when she was challenged, she told them to name one of the languages. She would then rant about pure nonsense in whatever language they said.

 _"Sovaró ásthma, elafrá allergía sta karóta,"_ she whispered back to herself, checking her Greek. The allergy to carrots would be important information, even if it was only a slight allergy.

"Kiira!" her father called, turning her attention to the doorway from the kitchen to the living room. "Can you come in here for a minute?"

"Coming, Dad!" she called back, turning the documents over for privacy purposes before going. When she got there, a man was standing next to her father. "Who's this?"

"This is Daichi Kagurazaka-san," her dad informed her. "He's from the internet special forces."

"Right," the girl commented. "You guys keep the cyber-terrorists from damaging everyday society, right?"

"That's right," he informed her. "And we have a severe problem that needs your help."

"My help?" she asked. "What can I do? All I'm really good for is translating."

"That could be exactly what we need," Daichi said. "I understand you can read binary?"

"Yeah... What does that have to do with anything?" When she had been bored in sixth grade, she discovered binary code and decided to teach it to herself. It took a little longer than most, but by the end of the year, she had mastered it.

"You'll see," he said.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Hours later saw all three girls in the headquarters of the special force.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here," Daichi asked, Yue by his side.

"Yeah," Hana replied. "Your guys were kind of vague when they brought me here."

Daichi nodded to Yue, who turned on the large monitor behind her. "This is why," she said, showing the latest update they'd gotten on the virus, though by now, it must have changed many times.

"Looks like a program," Hana commented. Math, she could do. Programming, not so much.

Yumi, however, recognized it for what it was. "A virus..." she whispered. "A really complex one, too."

"We have reason to believe that it's intelligent," Daichi informed them. "It's evolved countless times, faster than we can keep up with. So we assembled the three smartest teenagers in the country."

"Yumi," Yue began, "You are a brilliant hacker. If anyone can crack this, it's you. Kiira, you can translate just about anything into ten different languages. If this thing is encrypted in another language, once Yumi unlocks it, you might need to translate. And Hana, your mathematical brain could help in calculating its next move."

"I do like probability..." the blonde commented.

"Why don't you girls get acquainted with one other while we finish the last of our preparations?" Daichi suggested.

"Preparations for what?" Hana asked.

"We want to hit this virus at the source," Yue explained. "For years, we've been developing a way to allow humans to actually enter the internet as data."

"Are you serious?" Yumi asked. "We'd actually be physically _in_ the internet?"

"Yes," Daichi answered. "Like we said, we want to attack this at the source. Since this virus is alive, it seems to have spread smaller viruses to other systems, almost like scouts. We've received hundreds of reports from people having problems that may be related."

"Wait, what does this virus even do?" Kiira asked.

"It seems to delete files from the machines it infects, but in reality, we believe it is taking these files and absorbing them. The smaller problems involve loss of data followed by a total system crash," the man answered. "Because this virus seems to be able to create other intelligent viruses, we have our best programmers working on some bits of antivirus software to help you in there."

"Help us how?" Hana asked.

"They will be able to combat viruses that head your way," Yue said. "I can't imagine it would be too happy to have some people trying to stop it on its home turf."

"I'm totally in," Yumi said without thinking. "A chance to see the inside of the internet? That's like, the chance of a lifetime!"

"Why not?" Kiira asked with a shrug. "If I can be of any help, I'm glad to try."

"Same here," Hana finished with a nod. "If I'm being asked to help my country, I can't exactly say no."

"Good," Daichi said with a small nod. "We'll get on with those preparations, then."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"So, you're a hacker, huh?" Hana asked Yumi. "This has to be exciting for you."

"You know it," the girl said with a grin.

"What do you think they meant when they said we'd be getting antiviruses?" Kiira wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but I guess we'll find out soon," the blonde replied as the three were approached once again by Daichi and Yue.

"We're ready for you," Yue said, stepping aside to let them see behind her. A large machine with a platform and clear walls stood in front of them. There were dim lights around the edges, showing it was up and running.

"What do we need to do?" Yumi asked.

"Just step on the platform," Daichi informed them. "We'll take care of the rest."

"Alright," Hana said, taking the lead. She walked toward the machine and stepped onto the platform, quickly followed by Kiira and Yumi.

Yue began typing at a computer connected to the machine as Daichi spoke. "When you arrive, we've also programmed a scanning program for each of you. It will help you detect nearby viruses, even if you can't see them."

"Got it," Kiira said as Yue finished typing. The inside of the machine lit up and the girls slowly began to disintegrate.

"Good luck..." Yue whispered as they disappeared.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"So, this is the internet?" Hana asked as she and the others appeared in what looked to be a long black tunnel with green zeros and ones flying by on the walls, floor, and ceiling.

"Must be," Yumi commented. "That's definitely binary."

"So, what did they mean when they said scanning programs?" Kiira asked. As soon as she spoke, small balls of light appeared in front of each of them. Without thinking, they each reached out and grabbed one. When the light dimmed, each device appeared to be a small box, about the size of a compact. There was a button on the side, and each girl pressed their own. As soon as they did, the boxes popped open, revealing a blue orb centered in each. The orbs glowed and little specks, presumably of data, flowed from the orbs and appeared in front of the girls, each taking different shapes.

In front of Hana stood what appeared to be a bipedal yellow fox with white legs, a white stomach, white tipped ears, and purple gloves. Once the creature was done forming, her box turned yellow with purple swirling symbols on the sides and a yin and yang symbol that matched the ones on the creatures gloves on the top.

A cream colored canine-like creature appeared in front of Yumi. The creature had long red ears, a swirling red tail, red markings on its face, and a white stomach. Her box turned the same cream color as the creature with red triangles on the sides and a red swirl on the top.

Finally, a green bipedal creature appeared in front of Kiira. The creature had a large pink flower on its head and purple claws. Her box turned green with intricate vine designs on the sides and a pink flower image on the top.

"Whoa," Kiira said, stunned.

"You must be our antiviruses," Yumi guessed, studying them.

"I supposed we could be called that," the fox creature said. "I am Renamon. These are Labramon and Palmon." She motioned to the dog creature and then the green one. "We are also known as Digimon."

"What does that mean?" Hana asked.

"Digimon stands for Digital Monster," Labramon informed them. "We've existed for a long time in our own world, the Digital World, but just recently, many Digimon have been finding ways into your internet."

"So, when they started to program our antiviruses, the codes must have matched yours closely enough that you were brought here," Yumi guessed, earning a nod from all three Digimon.

To the surprised of the three girls, their boxes popped open again. Hana's projected a small 3D model of Renamon. "Name: Renamon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None."

"Name: Labramon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None," Yumi's said.

"Name: Palmon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None," Kiira's finished in the same mechanical voice.

"Okay, this is definitely weird," Kiira said plainly.

"We're in the internet, and you're only now deciding it's weird?" Hana asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, weirder," the translator amended. "But kinda cool."

"You're telling me," Yumi breathed, approaching Labramon. "So we're... partners, then?" she asked.

"Yes," the Digimon said.

"Are all of them as cute as you guys?" Kiira asked, earning an eye roll from Hana.

"No," Palmon told her new partner. "Some of them are really scary. Especially the viruses."

"And it's our job to get rid of those?" Hana asked. Renamon nodded in response. "Oh, boy..." the girl muttered. "This is going to be fun..."

"No offense," Kiira began, "but you guys don't really look like you could do all that much damage."

"Not now, maybe," Palmon informed her. "But with your help, we can Digivolve."

"Digivolve?" Yumi asked.

"Think of it like adding more data to a program to make it more advanced," Labramon said. "Its structure becomes more complicated as more information is added to it, but the more code, the more the program is able to do."

"I see," Yumi said with a small smile, though Hana and Kiira remained slightly confused. They may be geniuses in their own right, but they were not nearly as tech savvy as Yumi. Looking over, she saw their confusion. "Okay, so you know how a wooden board starts out as just that?" She received a pair of nods. "Alright, well, when you put more boards together, you might get a table, or a dresser. Now, it isn't just a board, it can hold clothes or be eaten at. Kinda like that."

"Okay," Hana said, understanding now. She glanced up at the binary. "So, where in the internet are we? Are we in a website?"

"From the looks of it, we're in some sort of connection," Yumi observed. "Who knows? If the computer and machine used to transport us here were connected to the internet, we might be between them."

"I wonder what the inside of a website even _looks_ like," Kiira said.

"We'll find out eventually," Hana commented. Her box beeped. "Okay, what's going on?"

"It must be sensing a virus," Renamon informed her. Hana stared ahead but pressed the button, once again opening the box. This time, a holographic map appeared, showing two red dots approaching them.

"Is that it?" she asked. Kiira and Yumi had opened their boxes to discover the same sight.

"Yeah," Palmon said, poising herself for battle.

After a few seconds, two shapes dropped from the code above them. They took the form of two small dinosaurs, slightly smaller than the humans. They each had yellow eyes and a hazard symbol on their white chests.

"Name: BlackGuilmon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Minimal."

All three girls stared for a moment as their boxes produced models of the viruses before them. "Okay, that's pretty neat," Kiira commented.

"So, what do we do?" Hana asked.

"You let us take care of this," Renamon told her, jumping into the air. "Diamond Storm!" As soon as the words left her mouth, small shards of light appeared in front of her, shooting down at the BlackGuilmon. Both dodged a direct hit, but on was nicked on the side.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled, extending her claws into vine-like extensions and wrapping around the one that had been hit. It would be a good idea to direct most attacks at the already slightly weakened one, getting it out of the way. They did still have to keep an eye on the other one. They had to make sure it didn't escape, or worse, attack the humans.

"Pyro Grenade!" the one that wasn't bound yelled, breathing out a fireball and aiming it straight at Yumi.

"RetrieverG!" Labramon yelled, jumping in the way and emitting a high frequency bark. The wave of sound made the fireball fade, disappearing before it reached them.

"Thanks, Labramon," Yumi said with a small smile. The smile fell, however, when it seemed to back off, getting ready to bolt.

"Okay, I'm not schooled in the ways of the internet," Kiira began. "But I'm going to guess that we can't let that thing escape."

"Right," Labramon confirmed. Before he could move, however, Renamon had jumped into the air and landed in front of the opponent, cutting off its escape.

"I don't think so," she said. "Diamond Storm!" The attack pushed it back, bringing it to one knee.

"Um, a little help here!" Palmon requested. Her vines were beginning to loosen as her opponent struggled.

"On it!" Labramon yelled, moving from his own enemy to Palmon's. Renamon seemed to have this one under control.

"Will we be able to pull this off with only three of us?" Yumi asked nervously.

"That's not really a good attitude going into all this," Hana said, watching the battle. "Alright, it seems kinda rough, but we just got here. Who knows? Maybe they're just settling into our internet right now."

"I hope you're right," Yumi muttered.

When Labramon was close enough, Palmon released her hold on the BlackGuilmon. Renamon had dispatched hers, so she went to join them, as well.

"RetrieverG!" Labramon yelled.

"Diamon Storm!" Renamon attacked. Her diamonds of light joined with the waves of sound, increasing in speed and striking their opponent. It, too, was destroyed, fading into tiny bits of data. The bits, as when as the ones from the other defeated BlackGuilmon, streamed to the girls. Their boxes opened up, and the bits were absorbed into Hana and Kiira's orbs. A small bit veered off into Yumi's as well.

"I wonder why we got more..." Kiira mused.

"It might be because you defeated them," the hacker guessed. "Palmon detained one, so she took part in the battle, but because she didn't deal a finishing blow, we didn't receive as much data."

"But why are we getting these in the first place?" Hana asked.

"The data from the viruses can't be spread back into the internet," Renamon said. "If they were, these battles would mean nothing. They would just reform as new viruses. But their data is now stored in your Digivices."

"Digivices?" Kiira asked. "Is that what these things are called?"

"Yes," Palmon told her. "Those store the virus data, and I think that they might purify the viruses."

"What do you mean?" Yumi asked.

"There are three types of Digimon," Renamon informed the girls. "Virus, Vaccine, and Data. We're Vaccines, and we're fighting the Viruses. Perhaps the data that becomes stored in there will change the Viruses into a Vaccine or Data."

"And maybe that's how you help us Digivolve," Labramon guessed. "The more data you have stored on there, the more likely we are to Digivolve."

"What do you mean, 'maybe'?" Hana asked. "Aren't you supposed to know this stuff?"

"We don't know much about interactions with humans," Renamon admitted. "It hasn't happened for a long time. We remember that humans can help us Digivolve, that we become stronger with a partner, and that your Digivces are key in all of this. But other than that, there isn't much information available anymore."

"Well, that's better than going into this blind," Kiira commented. "At least we've got some information."

"I guess we'd better keep an eye out for more Viruses," Yumi suggested. "At least in these connection tunnels, they can drop in anywhere." She looked up to the ceiling, where the two BlackGuilmon had dropped in on them from.

"As long as we keep a careful eye out, I'm sure we'll be fine," Labramon assured her.

"I hope so..." Hana whispered. "I really hope so..."

 **Next time:  
Miyuki: What the hell? Who are you?  
?: I am someone who needs your help.  
Miyuki: My help?  
?: Yes, come with me.  
Shurimon: You are welcome to stay as long as you like if you need to regain your strength.**

 **Yumi: I think I heard something.**

 **Labramon: Shurimon took Yumi!**

 **Uh, yeah... considering it's been about a long time since I wrote my last Digimon story, my battle scene skills may be a little rusty. And I know the preview might be a little longer than most, but I didn't want it to be** _ **too**_ **obscure. After all, you're probably already wondering 'who the hell is Miyuki'? Well, obviously that will be answered next time. (And she only takes up about half the episode, so... I needed to put in some info about the rest of the episode)**

 **Also, I tried to come up with different 'types' of geniuses. Hence, the mathematician, hacker and translator. If their knowledge sometimes seems unrealistic, I'm sorry. Also, for Kiira's translations, I fully admit to using google translate, so I know that a lot won't be grammatically correct. People whose native languages I translate to, don't hate me! Also, I believe Yumi's computer knowledge will be mostly accurate, since I took a few computer courses in high school and attempted to major in computer services, but my info may not always be completely accurate. Please forgive me on that, as well.**

 **AND to those of you who have read Digimon Academy, I'm turning it into an audio story to post on YouTube. But I need voices. Either leave me a review or PM me if you're interested (I mainly need male roles. I've filled about six or seven already).**

 **Alright, now that that's over, I'll see you next week~**


	2. Other Side of the Screen

**Well, here's episode 2, now~ Initially, it may seem like it doesn't have much to do with episode 1, but either at the end of this or in episode 3, they'll tie together. Alright? Okay. And it was brought to my attention that Renamon is a Data Type, not a Vaccine. Let's just... overlook that and pretend she's like BlueMeramon, which can be one of two types. Let's get on with the show, then~**

 _ **Hana:**_ _"Apparently, viruses have become intelligent and rampaging through the internet. The government's been trying to find a way to fight them, but they kept evolving. So they decided to send some teens into the internet. I, along with these two girls, Kiira and Yumi, were sent into the internet and given some antivirus programs. Turns out, they were called Digimon, and both they and the viruses were from a place called the Digital World. Now we, along with our partners, have to get rid of all these viruses. Who knows what could happen if we fail?"_

* * *

Miyuki Otori sat on her bed, staring at her computer. She had tried turning it on a few minutes ago, but all that happened was the appearance of the blue screen of death. Due to what she'd heard from her friends at school, she had a feeling some sort of computer virus was behind it. A lot of her friends had been shut out of their computers by different kinds of viruses.

Some hacker somewhere was having a little too much fun...

'Well, there goes my history paper," she muttered falling back to lay on her bed. She didn't really mind not having to do schoolwork, but it was an extra credit paper. She was currently failing history, and this paper could help her pass. One of the criteria was that it _had_ to be typed. It was due the next day, but with the death of her computer and her dad's work that required his laptop, she didn't really have the opportunity. She'd have to talk to the teacher and ask for an extension...

She put a hand to her face. It was too bad her other dad was on a business trip. She would have been able to use his laptop. But, as it was, she was out of luck.

"Now what?" she asked the empty room, taking to staring at the ceiling. She'd decided to work on her paper because she had nothing better to do. She'd finished the book she'd been reading, and the library was closed, so she couldn't get another one. Her dads' books were all about philosophy and graphic art design. There were a few interesting fiction novels hidden amongst the scholarly works, but she had read all of them multiple times. "Why can't something exciting happen in my life for once?"

Almost in answer to her question, her dead computer mysteriously started glowing. Sitting back up, she stared at it, mesmerized. This was unexpected. The blue screen turned white, and a transparent figure in a green hooded robe appeared.

 _Okay, I was bored enough to fall asleep,_ she thought. That hadn't happened to her often, but it was definitely possible.

"You are not asleep, Miyuki," the figure said in a sage-like male voice. She stared for a moment before pinching herself.

"Ow!" she hissed. "Okay, if you're real, then what the hell? Who are you?"

"I am someone who needs your help," the figure stated.

"My help?" she asked. She'd always been a particularly average person, if not slightly less than that. The only thing she really had going for her was her instincts. She just got feelings about things, and they were usually right.

"Yes," the figure told her, holding out a hand. "Come with me."

"Uh, I really shouldn't go anywhere with a stranger, especially some random person that came out of my computer," the brunette told him, putting her hands in the pocket of her sleeveless hoodie.

The figure sighed. "We do need your help," he told her. "This is something that only you can do."

Miyuki looked back at her bedroom door. "Look, my dad would be seriously worried if I just disappeared..."

"He will understand once you return," the figure informed her. "We need you in order or save the internet."

"Save the internet?" she asked, incredulous. This guy couldn't be serious. "Alright, what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"I am sure you are aware of the viruses that are ruining computers nationwide," he informed her. She nodded in response. "These are no normal viruses. They are beings known as Digimon, who have made their way from their own world into your internet. For now, they have focused their assaults on Japan, but if this is left unchecked, they will spread to the rest of the world."

"And you need _my_ help to stop these viruses?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," the figure said. "I can transport you inside the internet. You will then be able to join a Digimon to form a team in which you will be able to combat the viruses."

Miyuki glanced toward her door again. Surely if they needed her this bad... her dads would understand, right? And her gut was telling her that this would be the right decision.

"Alright," she finally agreed after a long moment of thought. "Let's get on with this, then." The next thing she knew, she was engulfed in a light, her vision filled with white.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a long black tunnel with bright green zeros and ones flying past her. This must be the internet.

"Alright, so I'm here," she said loudly, hoping that the figure would reappear and explain what she needed to do a little more. No luck. As soon as she spoke, however, a small light appeared in front of her. Curious, she reached out to grab it, and as soon as she touched it, it turned into a small blue box, falling into her hand. The top half of the box was a darker blue, while the bottom half was a little light. A black line, almost like a stitch, ran across the top under the design of a small white skull.

"Okay, what's this supposed to do?" she muttered to herself. She decided to open it, and once she did and revealed the blue orb inside, small specks flew out of it, forming a round creature about the size of a bowling ball with large yellow eyes, black furred legs, a mask that matched the top of her box in design and tattered blue wings. "Uh... hi."

"Hey," the creature said. "The name's DemiDevimon. You must be my new human partner."

"Yeah," she agreed in a slightly disbelieving tone. "I'm Miyuki." Without warning, a holographic image of DemiDevimon appeared above the orb.

"Name: DemiDevimon. Classification: Virus. Threat: None."

The girl stared at he box as it spoke the words in a mechanical sounding female voice. "Alright..." The words sunk in. "Wait a minute... You're a virus? But aren't those, you know, bad here?"

"Usually," DemiDevimon replied. "But I don't really like the way they're doing things. Why do we need your internet, anyway? The Digital World, our home, is good enough. We're probably only hurting this place by being here."

"That's right," Miyuki told him. "A lot of the computers out in the Real World are getting screwed up."

"You guys don't deserve that," DemiDevimon informed her. "Maybe that's why I'm your partner," he mused.

"Well, this will definitely be interesting," the human commented offhandedly. "So, what can you tell me about all this, so I'm not walking in here completely blind?"

"Well, we're all called Digimon," her new partner stated. "We come from a place called the Digital World, but for some reason, a lot of Digimon have traveled here, to your internet. I don't know why. And it looks like all the other Virus Digimon want to take over your internet. See, there are three type of Digimon: Virus, Data, and Vaccine. Like your Digivce said, I'm a Virus Type."

"Digivice? You mean this thing?" Miyuki asked, holding up the box, which had once again closed.

"Yeah," DemiDevimon said. "It helps you store a bunch of data, but I don't know what kind yet. I'm pretty sure it's also what connects us as partners. A long time ago, there were these humans that partnered with Digimon, and they were called Digi-Destined. Their Digivices were kind of proof of that."

"So does that make me a Digi-Destined, too?" she asked.

"I don't know, maybe," the Digimon replied, unsure. "How'd you get here, anyway?"

"Some dude in a green robe appeared out of my computer, if you'll believe that," the brunette replied, shaking her head. "It was weird."

"I can imagine," DemiDevimon agreed.

"So, now what do we do?" Miyuki asked. "I mean, how do we go about this whole 'save the internet' thing?"

"No clue."

"Oh, you're a lot of help," the human said, rolling her eyes. Her Digivice beeped. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know, open it," the Virus said. She did so.

A holographic image of a child-like creature with red and green eyes sewed onto a fabric that covered almost its entire head appeared above the Digivice, much like when DemiDevimon appeared. "Name: Dracmon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Minimal."

"What the hell...?" Miyuki muttered before a very real version of the hologram dropped down in front of her. "So this is like some identifier?"

"Must be," DemiDevimon said, placing himself between his new partner and the Dracmon. "But let's worry about that later. For now, let's just focus on taking this thing down."

"I'm with you on that, but... how?"

"Leave that to me," the Digimon said. A large syringe appeared, being held by one of his legs like a hand. "Demi Dart!" he yelled, hurling it at the other Digimon. The syringe embedded itself into Dracmon, causing it to falter in its movements. Miyuki was about to cheer when it stood again, albeit a bit shaky.

"Undead Fang!" it yelled, diving at DemiDevimon, determined to exact revenge while it could. It could feel the effect of the dart draining its energy, but if it was going down, it was taking this traitorous Virus down with it.

DemiDevimon tried to escape, but found that he wasn't able to move quite fast enough, Dracmon latching onto his wings with the teeth on its hands. He desperately flapped his wings in an attempt to shake his opponent off. "Dammit!" he yelled, irritated.

Miyuki bit her lip, trying to figure out some way to help her new partner. "Hey!" she yelled, thinking on her feet. "Over here, you undead whackbag!" The Virus looked up, staring at her for a moment before throwing DemiDevimon to the side. It approached her with slow, calculated movements. Suddenly, she wondered if that was such a smart idea.

"Eye of Nightmare!" it yelled, pushing its arms out to watch her with the eyes on its hands. A feeling low in her stomach told her to cover her eyes, so she threw her arms over them, blocking her sight.

"Demi Dart!" DemiDevimon yelled, finally righting himself and hurling a large syringe at Dracmon. She heard it stumble and uncovered her eyes to see it staring her in confusion, though it had been brought down to its knees.

"Thanks, DemiDevimon!" she called out.

"Hey, anytime!" the Rookie called back, diving at his opponent. "Demi Devi Claw!" He dove forward, almost like a bird of prey, claws forward, latching onto Dracmon's head. His claws tightened, finally causing the enemy Digimon to disappear into a burst of data. All that data flowed toward Miyuki's Digivice, which had opened again. The specks were then absorbed by orb inside.

"Okay..." she said, staring at it as the small box closed. "That was kind of weird." She paused. "Then again, I guess it would've just gone back out in the open and become another Virus, right?"

DemiDevimon nodded. "Yeah, probably." The human put her Digivice in her pocket for safe keeping.

"Do you think it's just us?" Miyuki asked. At the curious look her partner gave her, she said, "Trying to stop all this Virus stuff," she elaborated. "Do you think we're the only ones that are supposed to do this?"

"No, I heard some sort of rumor that there are three other humans in here somewhere," the Rookie told her. "Of course, I don't know where they are."

"That's helpful," the brunette said dryly. "We should probably try to find them, then. Strength in numbers, and all that."

DemiDevimon nodded, landing gently on her shoulder, keeping watchful of his claws so that he didn't hurt her. "Let's get started. Where to first?"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yumi adjusted her glasses, staring around them. They'd been walking through this connection tunnel for what felt like hours. She was still fascinated by the fact that they were _inside_ the internet, but she wanted to see something new. What did a website look like? Did they all look different? How would they find one?

"So, where exactly are we going?" Kiira asked Hana, their newly designated leader.

The blonde turned back to her. "Not sure, yet. Hopefully, if we just keep going, we'll find something useful." She looked at Renamon. "Do you have any ideas?"

The fox Digimon shook her head. "Unfortunately, we're just as new to this internet of yours as you are. I wish we could guide you, but..."

"We'd probably lead you into some kind of trap or something," Palmon said with a sigh. "So I guess we just... keep going, right?"

"Either we'll find something, or something will find us," Yumi commented.

"That's... one way to think about it," Labramon said.

Kiira glanced to the side. "Hey..." she began. "Do you guys see that?"

"What?" Hana asked, following her gaze. There was a slight ripple in the stream of binary. "What the hell is that?"

"There's only one way to find out," Labramon said, already making his way over to it. He touched a paw to it and a hole opened up, just large enough for them to pass through. He turned back to the group. "What do you think?"

The blonde looked from the other two girls to the hole. "It's this or the endless stream of zeros and ones." She shrugged and began walking toward it. The rest of the group followed.

They found themselves in what appeared to be a dense forest.

"Okaaaay," Kiira asked. "So, where are we?"

"My best guess?" Yumi asked. "We just entered a website. What site it is, I have no idea."

"The question now is, what do we do?" Palmon asked, looking around.

Hana was about to say something but the rustling of a bush caught her attention. She brought a finger to her lips to keep the others from saying anything. A moment later, they heard it, too. The Digimon kept a watchful eye out, trying to assess if they were in any danger.

Almost as if in response to their silence, six figured dove from all sides, out of the bushes. Hana's box was the first to open.

"Name: Ninjamon. Classification: Data. Threat: Medium."

"What are you doing here?" one of the Ninjamon asked.

"How did humans get into the internet?" another asked.

Kiira was the first to respond. "Relax," she told them, holding her hands up in a placating manner. "We're here to help with this whole Virus problem."

"How do we know you aren't just forms created by the Viruses to attack us?!" the first Ninjamon asked.

"Ninja Knife Throw!" they all called, throwing shuriken at the girls and their partners.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled, batting two away.

"Get down!" Renamon ordered, and the humans did so. She turned back to the Ninjamon. "They aren't here to harm you, and neither are we. Kiira is right, all we want to do is remove the Viruses from the humans' internet and return to the Digital World."

But the Ninjamon didn't seem too convinced. One was about to throw another shuriken.

"Double Stars!"

Two shuriken on what appeared to be curled vines flew down, knocking the weapon from Ninjamon's hand before retreating up to the trees. A figure dropped in front of them, landing gracefully on his feet. The Ninjamon immediately backed off.

He almost looked like a ninja combined with a plant with arms ending in shuriken. "I apologize for the actions of the Ninjamon," he said, motioning to the aforementioned Digimon around them. "They are a bit wary of outsiders."

"Who's this guy?" Yumi asked before her Digivice opened.

"Name: Shurimon. Classification: Data. Threat: Medium."

Renamon smiled. "Thank you, Shurimon," she said. When Hana, Kiira, and Yumi looked at her curiously, she said, "Shurimon is a noble warrior, but fair. He won't attack for no reason, and won't let anyone else, if he can help it."

"I am this area's protector," Shurimon informed them. "I understand you are here to help us." Though they couldn't see his face, the smile was evident in his voice. "You have my thanks."

"Looks like every website has its own domain and protector," Labramon commented.

"What do you know about what's going on in here?" Hana asked Shurimon.

The Digimon sighed. "Everything was fine for a very long time in the Digital World. One day, however, Digimon began disappearing. We were taken from the Digital World to here, though we all arrived in the tunnel you no doubt came from. We all quickly scattered, finding our own domains."

"Thank you," Hana told him. "It might only be a little bit of information, but every little thing counts."

"You are welcome to stay as long as you like if you need to regain your strength," he offered.

"That sounds like a good idea," Kiira said. "We could use some time to get our thoughts together and plan our next move. And it would definitely be better to do it somewhere we know we're safe."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

One of the Ninjamon led them to a large tree with a hollow trunk. It was easily big enough to fit the humans, their partners, and still have enough room to move around a little.

"We're sorry," he said, bowing his head. "It's just... We usually all stick to our own areas. And with the Viruses roaming the tunnels... Well, we assumed the worst."

"It's alright," Yumi said with a small smile. "You were just trying to defend your home."

Ninjamon smiled. "Thank you for understanding." And with that, he left.

"So, now what do we do?" Kiira asked. "The Viruses are in the tunnels, so do we just wander around there?"

Hana shook her head. "No. If anything, maybe we need to find a way to bring the Viruses to us."

"What do you mean?" Palmon asked.

"If we draw attention to ourselves," Renamon began, understanding where her partner was going. "Then maybe we can draw out whatever is causing all of this in the first place."

"Exactly," Hana said with a nod.

"That's great and everything," Yumi started. "But don't you think maybe we need to get stronger first? I mean, no offense, guys, but you're all just Rookies right now. How can we hope to take on whatever's causing all this? I mean, it's gotta be way stronger, probably a Mega, right?"

"To get all these Digimon to follow it, it has to be," Palmon told her partner with a nod.

Kiira looked outside to see it getting darker. "I think that we should really concentrate on getting some rest right now," she suggested. "It looks like it's getting late, and we can think with rested minds." She looked at their leader. "Sound good?"

Hana nodded. "Alright. Let's get some shut-eye. Good night, guys."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Shurimon sat in his primary lookout tree, one leg dangling from the branch. His gaze was to the sky, but he looked down once he saw dark movement. Perhaps it was just the Ninjamon... they _did_ like to play night-tag.

Deciding to make sure, he dropped to the ground, searching for the shadow. Multiple figures stepped out of the trees. They were Ninjamon, but they seemed... different. Their red masks were dark maroon, and their eyes glowed red.

"Ninjamon," he began in a commanding tone. "What has happened?"

"You'll find out soon enough, _sir_ ," one of them said, grabbing a shuriken, which pulsed with dark energy.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yumi couldn't sleep. Her mind was still racing with the excitement that they were inside the world wide web. This was what one website looked like. Were there others biomes, like mountains or deserts? What if some were underwater?

She sat up when she heard a branch snap. Eyeing the entrance to their tree, she gently nudged Labramon awake.

"What's up...?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"I think I heard something."

"Yumi, Ninjamon like the dark," he told her. "They're probably just wandering around."

The lavender-haired girl bit her lip. She wanted to believe that, but they couldn't be too careful. "Why don't we just go take a look?"

Labramon studied his partner. She looked seriously worried. It couldn't hurt to check... "Okay, let's go."

They left the tree, looking around. Everything was quiet. There was no wind, no rustling, no footsteps.

"Maybe I was just imagining things," Yumi said, about to turn around when she saw a large shadow behind her partner. "Labramon, look out!"

The Rookie turned, only to be batted to the side. The figure shot out twin shuriken, using them to pull the girl toward him. Those shuriken looked awfully familiar... "Shurimon?" she asked. Wasn't he supposed to be a good guy?

But now that she could see him more clearly, she saw the differences. His robes, which had once been white, were now black. The large leaves on his shoulders were now brown, and his arms, instead of being green, were red. This wasn't the Shurimon she knew.

"Double Stars!" he yelled, throwing Labramon back further before leaving, darting from tree to tree, Yumi in his arms.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Labramon raced back to the tree as fast as he could. "Wake up!" he yelled as soon as he got inside. "We have a huge problem!"

"What's going on...?" Kiira asked.

"Something happened to the Digimon here. Shurimon took Yumi!"

"But I thought you said Shurimon was okay," Hana said, looking to Renamon.

"He is..." the fox Digimon said. "Something isn't right."

Palmon looked back at Labramon. "Tell us exactly what happened."

"Okay," he said, taking a breath. "Yumi thought she heard something outside, so we went to take a look. It was really quiet and then Shurimon showed up out of nowhere and attacked! He looked different, and he grabbed Yumi and took off."

"What do you mean, looked different?" Kiira asked. "Different how?"

"His colors were all weird," the Rookie replied.

Hana thought for a moment. "The Digivice said Shurimon was a Data Type, right?" she asked. "We know Vaccines are immune to any kind of Virus, but... Do you think a Data Digimon could be infected and, you know, change?"

"Become evil, like a Virus?" Renamon asked. "I suppose it's possible."

"So what do we do?" Kiira asked.

Labramon turned, heading for the hole in the tree. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to save Yumi first."

"Right," Hana said. "Come on, let's go."

When they were only a few steps out of the tree, they were surrounded by the Virus-infected Ninjamon. "Ninja Knife Throw!"

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled, trying to knock it away like she had earlier. The attack, however, seemed more powerful this time, pushing her back. "Okay, maybe we have even more of a problem..."

"Diamond Storm!" Renamon yelled as the small shards of light appeared around her. As soon as they hit their targets, the group took the opportunity to dash past them while the Ninjamon were still getting their bearings.

"We need to find Shurimon!" Labramon urged. He was looking around frantically. The more time it took them to find her, the more danger Yumi was in.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Shurimon, what are you doing?" Yumi asked him as he jumped from tree to tree. "This isn't right!"

He looked down at her. "It is my job to rid this world of pests like yourself. But before that, you are still of use to me. You will draw your friends here to meet their fate, as well."

Yumi couldn't believe this was happening. She'd been so excited to find herself in the internet. At her computer was where she felt most at home. But now she was going to die here.

Shurimon finally stopped, bringing her near the top of a very tall tree and standing next to her, keeping watch both on her and for the rest of the Digi-Destined.

"What happened to you...?" she whispered. She looked down at the forest floor to see the Ninjamon darting around. They had looked different, too. This whole thing seemed sinister. _Is this a Virus?_ she asked herself. If it was... how were they supposed to handle it? They got rid of the Viruses in the tunnels by destroying them. Shurimon and the Ninjamon were innocent. They couldn't do that to them... It just wouldn't be right.

"Let her go, Shurimon!" Hana yelled from the ground.

Despite his face being covered, Yumi imagined a twisted smile. "Exactly as I planned," he said, jumping down. Yumi was far too high up. She wasn't good at climbing trees, and she'd die if she tried to jump.

Hana looked up to see the trapped girl. She looked to Renamon. She knew her partner was quite agile, she could probably make it up there. "Hey, Renamon?" She nodded up to the tree. "Think you could get Yumi down?"

Renamon gave a single nod before jumping to a branch. She continued to ascend, much like Shurimon had when taking the human. Once she arrived, she offered Yumi a hand, which she took. Renamon helped her on her back before returning to see that Shurimon hadn't made his move yet. He appeared to be waiting for them to attack first.

"RetrieverG!" Labramon yelled. He would make Shurimon pay for taking his partner.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon attacked, trying to hold him in place, though he quickly broke free and dodged Labramon's attack.

"Far too easy," he said. "Double Star!" The attack hit both Rookies, sending them flying back. He turned to Renamon.

"Diamond Storm!" she yelled. As her opponent batted away the attack, she said, "Shurimon, we know why you're doing this. A Virus infected you, but you have to fight it! This isn't you!"

"It's who I am now," he argued, diving for her, this time using his shuriken hands as melee weapons. The quick Rookie managed to dodge a few blows before taking a hit to the side. She was forced down to one knee, one hand to her injured side.

"Renamon!" Hana yelled. Her partner was injured, she had to do _something_!

Almost as if in response to her plea, her Digivice glowed. When it opened, data began pouring from the orb inside to the Rookie. Shurimon went to attack again but was forced to fall back as he was blinded by the light surrounding Renamon. She began to grow and change shape, and when the light faded, a yellow kitsune with blue flames tipping its tails stood in her place.

"Name: Kyubimon. Classificaton: Data. Threat: None."

"That must be Renamon's Champion form," Kiira whispered.

"Shurimon," Kyubimon began. "You were once a noble Digimon, but this Virus has corrupted you. I'm sorry, but I have to stop you." Her tails stood on end and the fire grew brighter. "Fox Tail Inferno!" she yelled, and the fireballs released, all aimed right at Shurimon.

The Digimon dodged, but one managed to hit his leg, making him wince when he landed. He attempted a battle stance, but it was clear he was weakened. "Double Star!" he yelled, aiming at her legs in an attempt to slow her movement as she had his.

Kyubimon, however, saw the attack coming and jumped at him, spinning in the air and becoming a wheel of blue fire. "Dragon Wheel!" she yelled, and what appeared to be a dragon's head made of fire rose from her form, hitting Shurimon. He fell to the ground.

The humans walked over to him. Kiira frowned as his data seemed to phase in and out.

"I'm sorry..." Hana said softly before her Digivice opened again. Data gathered from Shurimon's chest, yet he didn't seem to be losing any of his own. The bits of data were dark, and the flowed directly into her Digivice. Data from Kyubimon flowed inside, as well, and she turned back into Renamon. They watched Shurimon as his colors slowly returned to normal.

"It looks like whenever we defeat a Digimon infected with a Virus, it goes back to normal," Yumi observed, awed at the realization.

"We should see if the Ninjamon are okay," Palmon suggested and Kiira helped her up. Yumi did the same with Labramon.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

With the protector of the site purified, the Ninjamon somehow were, as well. Apparently, the Virus connected to the protector.

"I'm very sorry for what happened," Shurimon apologized.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault," Hana reassured him. She sighed. "Thank you for letting us stay here, but we should probably get going." She gave a sad smile. "Maybe we'll see each other again sometime."

"Perhaps," Shurimon replied, a small smile evident in his voice.

The group waved behind them before heading back to the hole they'd arrived through.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki sighed, walking with her hands in her pockets, DemiDevimon still perched on her shoulder.

"So, what are we supposed to do, exactly?" the brunette asked. "I mean, we ran into _one_ Virus. I mean, not that I want to keep running headfirst into battles, but... I'm pretty sure we're not doing what we're supposed to."

"Good question," the Rookie replied. "This tunnel's getting kind of boring... Maybe would could find somewhere else to go first?"

"And just how, pray tell, do we do that?" she asked with a raised brow. She stopped as she felt another pit in her stomach, but not nearly as strong as before. Turning, she saw a hole open in one of the walls. Three girls stepped out, each followed by a Digimon.

The group stared at her and DemiDevimon in silence for a moment. Finally, the blonde girl spoke.

"Who the hell are you?"

 **Next time:  
Palmon: Be careful, that's DemiDevimon, he's a Virus!  
Kiira: So, what do we do?  
Hana: We take him out.  
Miyuki: Wait! You've got us all wrong!  
Labramon: Yumi!  
Yumi: Not again!**

 **Yep. This wound up longer than I planned. Hot damn! In case you were wondering about the Virus affecting the Ninjamon first but Shurimon being the core, they were basically carriers of the Virus. They had a toned down version, but when it spread to Shurimon, it became a lot stronger. Hence, when he was purified, the Ninjamon were, as well.**

 **Also, I love this little cliffhanger, I've been planning it as soon as I started chapter two~**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	3. All a Big Mistake

**Episode 3 time~ I like the way the last chapter ended, but you guys probably didn't, having to wait a week to see what's going on~ Sorry, but if you've been following me for awhile, you should know how much of a bitch I am when it comes to stuff like this (and isn't that how a lot of Digimon episodes end?). Anyway, here we go~**

 _ **Miyuki:**_ _"So, something pretty weird happened. This person claiming to be the 'Spirit of the Internet' showed up in my room and brought me into the web. I guess there are these things called Digimon that are trying to take it over. I got a Digimon partner, DemiDevimon, who's a Virus like the Digimon trying to control the internet. We just kinda wandered for awhile, but we finally managed to run into these other people. Somehow, though, I don't think this is going to end well..."_

* * *

"I'll ask again," Hana said. "Who are you?"

"Miyuki," the brunette replied. "What about you?"

Kiira was about to speak when Palmon's eyes fell on the Digimon on Miyuki's shoulder. "Be careful," she warned. "That's DemiDevimon, he's a Virus!"

The girl and her partner looked at each other. This was going downhill, and fast. If things kept going like this, they'd find themselves in a battle, and Miyuki didn't really like her odds.

"So, what do we do?" Kiira asked, looking to Hana for an answer. The blonde seemed to be thinking for a moment, probably judging the best course of action.

"We take him out," she said, readying her Digivice, just in case she needed it.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled, vines reaching out to grab the Virus, smacking Miyuki a bit in the process.

DemiDevimon immediately flew off his partner's shoulder. He didn't want her to get hurt by any more attacks meant for him. "Demi Dart!" he yelled, aiming at the plant Digimon.

"DemiDevimon, no!" Miyuki yelled. He was only making things worse... He was making them seem like an enemy. "Wait!" she yelled as Labramon seemed to be charging up an attack. "You've got us all wrong!"

"That guy's a Virus and he's attacking us! I think we get it just fine!" Hana retorted. Yumi and Kiira looked at each other, unsure. This was another _human_ here in the internet. But at the same time, she was partnered with a Virus. He _was_ fighting, but only because Palmon had made the first move.

"Diamond Storm!" Renamon yelled, hitting her target perfectly.

"I'm telling you, you're making a mistake!" Miyuki said, taking a step forward. She was probably putting herself in a lot of danger, but she had to stop this before she lost her Digimon. They might have only just met, but the little bowling ball had really grown on her. When the battle continued on, she looked behind her. It looked clear... "Come on, DemiDevimon, we're leaving!"

The Rookie looked back at her, just barely dodging Labramon's RetrieverG. She was right. This was _not_ a battle they could win. Without another thought, he flew toward her and they began to retreat.

Hana gripped her Digivice tighter, ready to pursue. A hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Let her go," Kiira suggested. "We have more important things to worry about. And if she really is some kind of problem, I'm pretty sure we'll run into her again."

The blonde stopped, going over what Kiira said. "Alright," she finally relented. "For now, we have to keep looking."

"We know that Viruses have the ability to infect Data Types, at least in the websites they live in," Yumi commented. "Maybe we can take care of more of that. Who knows? We might even find more information."

"Alright," Hana said with a nod. She looked down the tunnel, in the opposite direction Miyuki had gone. "Let's get going."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki looked back, relieved to see that the others hadn't followed her. Sitting down, she leaned her back against the wall, staring at the zeros and ones zooming by. "I don't want to do that again..." she said.

"Me, neither," DemiDevimon agreed. They'd been at an extreme disadvantage, so escape had definitely been the best option. "So, what are we supposed to do?" he asked, looking at her. He had once again settled himself on her shoulder. "With them running around here, too, we're in trouble."

The human put her head in her hands. "What we need is some way to convince them that we're not their enemy..." she said. "It would probably all be a hell of a lot easier if we could all actually work together. You know, strength in numbers."

"Instead, we're on our own..." DemiDevimon agreed. "This sucks."

"You can say that again," his partner agreed.

"This sucks," he repeated. She rolled her eyes and flicked his forehead.

"Dork..." She gave him a teasing smile but it quickly fell as a familiar feeling came over here. "Okay, trouble's coming."

"The other humans?" DemiDevimon asked.

She shook her head. "No, something else. I don't really know what, but..." She was cut off when a pale bluish purple, furry creature dropped from the ceiling. Miyuki was on her feet in an instant, DemiDevimon flying off her shoulder.

"Name: Gazimon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Minimal."

"Okay, this shouldn't be too bad, right?" the brunette asked.

"Hopefully not," the Rookie replied. "Demi Dart!"

Gazimon dodged out of the way, jumping up and wrapping its claws around DemiDevimon. It opened its mouth. "Electric Stun Blast!" it yelled as a black gas spilled from its mouth. DemiDevimon froze up, paralyzed.

"Shit," Miyuki muttered trying to figure out what to do now. Gazimon turned its attention to her. DemiDevimon wasn't going anywhere any time soon. It walked towards her, and every step filled her with more dread than the last. She wanted to run, but she couldn't leave her partner here. She focused on the Virus's left side, and once she made to move, she knew it thought she would go that way. It was already moving to its left when she ran straight past its right, making a beeline for DemiDevimon. Scooping him up, she smacked his head a few times before he shook it a few times.

"Thanks," he said. He wasn't sure why that worked, but he wasn't complaining. He turned back to his opponent. "This is between you and me. Leave her out of this." His eyes narrowed as he flew forward. "DemiDevi Claw!" He dove on Gazimon like a bird of prey, latching onto its ears and flying straight up. Once he deemed himself high enough, he flipped and tossed the other Virus into the air, turning and arming himself. "Demi Dart!" He hurled the syringe, and once it hit, Gazimon was destroyed, its data streaming into Miyuki's now-open Digivice.

As soon at it was gone, DemiDevimon flew back down to her shoulder and she slid to the ground. "Damn, that sucked."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Found another one," Palmon said, pointing.

"Let's go," Labramon encouraged, already walking toward the hole that would no doubt lead to a website.

"Hold on," Hana called out, making the dog Digimon stop. "I think we all remember what happened the _last_ time we just walked blindly through one of these things."

Yumi nodded, adjusting her glasses. "I would rather _not_ get kidnapped by a Virus-infected Digimon again, thank you very much."

"Well, at least this time we have a Champion on our side to protect us," Kiira commented, glancing over at Renamon, who simply nodded.

Hana paused for a moment. Kiira had a point, and they wouldn't get anywhere. And they owed it to their country, and quite possibly the world, to stop these smaller Viruses, and they wouldn't be able to take on whatever was causing all this. A Digimon able to control all of this must be extremely powerful. They had no hope like they were now. "Alright," she finally relented. "Let's go."

Once they entered, they found themselves in a vast, seemingly empty desert.

"Okay..." Kiira said. "Now what?"

"We start walking, I guess," Hana said with a shrug. She looked at Renamon. "What kind of Digimon do you think we'll see in a place like this?"

The Rookie thought for a moment. "We are likely to see Digimon known as Monochromon, but we should be careful. They're all Champion Digimon."

"Got it," her partner replied. "Don't piss off the Digimon. We'll try."

"Um..." Yumi began. "If they're Champions... and get infected with a Virus like Shurimon and the Ninjamon were... then how are we supposed to pull this off?"

Everyone thought for a moment before Labramon spoke up. "Guess we'll find out if it happens."

"I feel better already," the hacker said sarcastically.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

They'd been walking for what felt like an hour when they finally saw signs of life. Unfortunately, said life was heading in their direction, closing in quickly. The Digimon each took a battle stance, just in case.

The creatures around them slowed, surrounding them. They looked a bit like dinosaurs, with single horn on their head and armor all along their backs.

"Name: Monochromon. Classification: Data. Threat: Medium."

"What are you doing here?" one of the Digimon asked.

Hana raised her hands in a placating manner. "Relax," she said. "We're not here to hurt you or anything like that. We came here because the Viruses have been taking over our internet, so we're trying to stop that."

"The last place we went, the Digimon were infected with a Virus," Kiira told them. "So please, be careful."

The Monochromon all studied them, though the Rookies seemed to relax a bit, feeling that the threat of danger had passed. "Do you have a protector?" Palmon asked them after a moment.

"How do you know about the protectors?" one of the Monochromon asked.

"When we were in the other website," Labramon began, "they had a protector, too. Shurimon."

The Digimon nodded and turned its head. "Come with us," he said. "He would like to meet you."

The humans gave each other nervous looks. This could end well, or it could end _very_ badly.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

When they arrived at their destination, they were face with a tall humanoid figure made of fire. He turned, looking down at them. "So, you are the humans that have entered this place," he said.

Hana nodded, stepping forward. "That's right," she said. "My name is Hana, and these are Kiira and Yumi. Our human government sent us here to get the Viruses out."

"We hoped that we might be able to get some information," Kiira added. _And save you guys from a Virus, if we need to,_ she added silently.

"I'm afraid we don't know much," the large Digimon said. "But you're welcome to stay and regain your strength."

The girls looked at each other nervously and Hana bit her lip. The last time they had been offered that did not end very well.

Almost seeming the sense the pause in conversation, Yumi's Digivice opened. "Name: Meramon. Classification: Data. Threat: Medium."

Meramon's bright blue eyes fell on the small device. "I see you have Digivices. Does this mean that you are Digi-Destined?"

"What does that mean?" Hana asked. Their partners looked at each other. Why had they never given that any thought?"

One of the Monochromon, the one that had led them there, said, "A Digi-Destined is someone chosen by an unknown higher power to partner with a Digimon and save the Digital World. Perhaps, in this case, your internet."

"I don't think you could call us that," the blonde confessed. "We were hand-picked by our government. No 'unknown higher power' there." She held up her Digivice. "I'm pretty sure they ended up programming these things for us."

"I've never heard of such a thing before," Meramon said thoughtfully. "This isn't the Digital World, however, so I suppose it may be different here."

"Well, since all of the areas are connected through a large tunnel, that doesn't surprise me," Yumi commented. "In the Digital World, it's probably just all connected normally, right? One area just kind of leading into the next one?"

Meramon nodded. "Yes," he told her. "It was quite strange for us when we first arrived."

"Did you all just appear in these website when you first showed up?" Hana asked. The Champion shook his head.

"No," he replied. "We all appeared in what you call 'the tunnel'. We all found these portal that brought us to where we live now."

Renamon watched the humans carefully during the conversation. Humans, she had guessed, didn't do well in this kind of heat for too long. They had begun to slow on their way here. The only thing that had kept them going was probably the promise of getting some answers. "Is there somewhere cooler we can talk?" she asked.

Glancing back at the humans, Meramon nodded. "Yes. Even though it is bare here, we do have a small oasis nearby."

"I could go for some water," Kiira commented.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"What's that, do you think?" Miyuki asked DemiDevimon. They'd been walking for a while and had come across a hole in the tunnel.

"I'm not sure, but anywhere's better than here," the Rookie commented. That was definitely true. The brunette hated waiting around for another Virus to drop in on them.

"Alright, let's go," she agreed, heading toward it with her partner perched on her shoulder once again.

They arrived on a mountain path. "That's a long way down..." the human commented. "Where are we, a website?"

"I think so," DemiDevimon answered.

"I wonder what one," Miyuki pondered before taking a few steps to the side, staying close to the rock wall behind her. Falling down a mountain was not on today's agenda.

The had just found a larger bit of rock to stand on before they saw a figure in the distance, flying straight toward them. The human groaned. "I have a bad feeling about this," she muttered, and by now, she'd learned to trust these 'bad feelings'. They'd all been right so far.

"Aerial Attack!" she heard. On instinct, she ducked and DemiDevimon took off, flying above. The blast hit inches above her head. She looked up and took out her Digivice. She wanted a good idea of what she was dealing with.

"Name: Unimon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: Medium."

"Great..." she muttered. "A Vaccine who probably thinks we're here to kill it or something." As soon as the Digimon came into view, she yelled, "Wait! We're not what you think we are!" She really didn't want to have to go through this twice in one day, but hopefully this would go better than the last one did.

"That Digimon of yours is a Virus, what more is there to know?" Unimon asked. "No doubt, you were pulled to their side, so you're just as much a threat!"

"Wait!" the human yelled, throwing one hand out while holding up her Digivice with the other. "You know what this is, right?"

The attacking Digimon paused. "A Digivice..." he said quietly. "Why do you have one?"

"Some guy just appeared in my room yesterday and told me to come here. This thing showed up when I wound up out there." She jerked a thumb to the hole she'd come through, indicating the connection tunnel. "I'm not sure, but I _think_ that makes me a Digi-Destined, right?"

"I would... assume so," he said slowly, landing next to her. Luckily, the ledge was large enough to accommodate both of them. "But why would a Digi-Destined be partnered with a Virus?" he asked as DemiDevimon returned to his normal place on his partner's shoulder.

"I don't really approve of what the other Viruses are doing," the Rookie informed him. "I guess that's why I'm helping to stop them."

Unimon considered him for a moment. "I see," he finally said. "Why are you here?"

"To be honest, we just wanted to get out of that tunnel," Miyuki confessed. "But while we're here, can we ask a few questions?"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yumi smiled as she leaned against the tree she'd been sitting under. She was definitely _not_ an outdoors person. She liked being in her room, preferably with her computer or laptop. It was nice to be able to sit back like this and relax. "Hey, Labramon?" she asked her partner, who was sitting on the other side of the tree.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"How long do you think this whole thing will take?" she asked. "I mean, my parents know where I am and what I'm doing, but they're probably really worried about me."

Labramon sighed. "I don't know. I hate to say it, but probably a really long time. This isn't going to be easy."

"I know..." the lavender haired girl said. "I just wish I had a time frame."

"Hopefully, no longer than a few months," Kiira said, sitting down against another tree across from her. "A few weeks would definitely be pushing it, but I don't think we'll be here for a year."

"I hope not," Yumi replied, resting her head on her chin. "This is probably some huge, government secret, so my friends probably think I just disappeared or something."

Kiira frowned. Her own friends probably thought the same. She definitely wasn't the type of person who would just run away, but when she was out of school and completely off the radar for a few months, she knew people would start to wonder... "This sucks," she stated plainly, causing a small laugh from everyone else. It wasn't necessarily funny, but laughing at it was better than letting it bring them down.

Hana glanced up at the sky to see the daylight fading. "Great," she muttered. "Desert are _freezing_ at night."

"Think we could sleep near Meramon?" Palmon joked.

"If we could get a fire started, we should be fine," Renamon pointed out. She looked to one of the Monochromon nearby. "Could you start a small fire for us?" she asked.

He nodded. "I would suggest putting some stuff together away from the oasis," he advised. "I don't want to burn the whole thing down."

"Alright," Hana said with a nod before the group began taking small fallen branches and leaves a little ways away.

"Volcanic Strike!" the Monochromon yelled, causing the branches and leaves to easily catch fire.

"We'll have to keep feeding it through the night, so let's sleep in shifts," Labramon suggested. He looked to Yumi. "Wanna take the first watch?"

The girl shrugged. "Why not? I'd rather not be woken up in the middle of the night for second or third."

"We can take second," Hana volunteered before looking at Kiira. "Guess that leaves you with third."

"That's fine with us," she said. "Right, Palmon?"

"Yeah," the plant Digimon replied. "Goodnight, then," she said before laying down. Kiira, Hana, and Renamon followed suit, Hana keeping close to Renamon's thick fur tail. Yumi resisted the urge to giggle a little.

Labramon stretched before looking up at his partner. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you before," he said quietly. "You know, back in the forest."

Yumi shook her head. "It's fine. We're all still new at this. There are bound to be a few hiccups here and there."

"Yeah, but that 'hiccup' could have gotten you killed," the Rookie muttered miserably.

"But it didn't," she reassured him. "And it's not your fault it happened, either."

"I should have been the one to Digivolve," he said. " _You_ were in danger, not Hana. I should have been able to protect you." He looked at the ground. "Some partner I am."

"I said it's fine," she repeated, wearing a frown of her own. "Seriously. Just because you didn't Digivolve last time doesn't mean that you won't." She gave him a small, reassuring smile. "And you're not alone, remember. So cheer up."

Her smile dropped when a chill ran down her back, but it wasn't from the cold. There seemed to be a wave of something that she couldn't place spreading around them. She could see something blue and glowing in the distance. As it grew closer, she saw that it was the same shape as Meramon.

"Guys, wake up!" she yelled, shaking the others, but the day seemed to have exhausted them. The most that happened was that Hana stirred a bit before going back into a deep sleep. "Dammit..." she muttered, going over her options. Meramon had probably been infected by the Virus, so there was a good chance that the Monochromon had, too. She couldn't let them charge her sleeping friends, they were defenseless. So she did the only thing she could do.

She ran.

Labramon was close at her heels, glancing at Meramon every so often, nervous at how quickly he was closing in on them. Would they be able to handle this alone?

They'd been running for only a minute when he was upon them. She knew that he had gone from orange to blue from the distant view, but his eyes had also changed from blue to red. "Meramon!" she yelled, even though the incident with Shurimon had proved that it was useless. "Come on, you know this isn't right!"

The Virus-infected Digimon simply grabbed her, picking her up and bringing her close to his face, almost as if he was studying her. The look in his eye reminded her of how a predator studies its prey before going in for the kill. He looked down at Labramon and took off in the opposite direction, separating her from her partner and pulling her further away from the rest of the group.

"Yumi!" she could hear her partner yell behind her, but his voice was getting further and further away. Within only a few more seconds, she'd be too far away to for help.

"Not again!" she hissed. It was only the second time, but she was really getting sick of this whole getting captured thing.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Labramon ran as fast as his legs would take him back to the group. He had to wake them up somehow. When he arrived, he bit down on Renamon's tail, startling her awake.

"What was that for?!" she asked.

"We need to wake up the others," the other Rookie replied urgently. "Meramon was infected by a Virus and he took Yumi. We need to hurry!"

Renamon nodded and the quickly managed to wake the others and inform then of the situation.

"He probably has a lot of ground ahead of us," Hana said with a sigh. "How the hell do we catch up with him?"

Labramon and Palmon looked at Renamon, who nodded.

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

Hana, realizing what her partner was intending, climbed on her back, quickly followed by Hana. Labramon and Palmon joined them, but Kyubimon seemed to have no trouble carrying them all.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yumi tapped her fingers boredly on the hand that was holding her. Surprisingly, Meramon's flames didn't burn her. "Let me guess," she began. "You're using me to lure out the others, aren't you? That's why you left Labramon instead of destroying him." The only reply she received was a glance before the Digimon went back to watching the area around them, no doubt waiting for the rest of the humans and their partners to arrive.

Soon enough, there they were. Hana, Kiira, Labramon, and Palmon all dismounted and Kyubimon immediately straightened her tails for an attack.

"Wait!" Hana said, causing the Champion to pause. "You could hit Yumi!"

The group looked at each other, all trying to figure out what to do. As long as he was holding onto Yumi, Meramon had the perfect hostage.

"Cold Flame!" he yelled.

"I thought he was all about fire!" Kiira yelled as she and the others ducked out of the way.

"It looks like the Virus turned him into a Champion version of BlueMeramon," Kyubimon said. "And _he_ uses ice-related attacks."

"Okay, so we have an ex-fire, ice ex-Data Virus to take care of?" Kiira asked. Hana raised an eyebrow.

"What?" she asked.

"Never mind," the other girl replied.

"I have an idea!" Labramon exclaimed before running to Palmon and whispering his plan. It wouldn't really work if Meramon heard it. She nodded.

"Poison Ivy!" she yelled, her vines wrapping around the Champion's wrist.

"RetrieverG!" Labramon yelled, aiming at Meramon's arm, making him drop his hostage. Kyubimon, quickly catching on, dove forward and the girl landed on her back. She slid off, moving back to the other girls.

Hana put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"A little shaken up and kind of annoyed, but yeah," Yumi replied.

Kyubimon straightened her tails once again, now that she had a clear shot. "Fox Tail Infer—"

A blue flamed hand batted her to the side before she was able to finish the attack.

"Kyubimon!" Hana yelled, running over to her partner as she changed back into Renamon.

Labramon looked from the fallen Kyubimon to Meramon and then back to his partner. He had to do something. Palmon could only do so much with her vines and Kyubimon was down. Besides, it was _his_ partner that had been captured. Again. He wouldn't let that go unpunished.

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

"Name: Seasarmon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None," Yumi's Digivice read.

"Sun's Courage!" he yelled as beams of light appeared around him and fired, hitting Meramon straight in the chest.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled again, this time wrapping around his ankles and using his temporary broken balance to pull him to the ground.

Seasarmon jumped on the Virus-infected Digimon and stared down at him. "I'm sorry, Meramon, but you kidnapped my partner." His eyes narrowed. "This might hurt a little bit. Sun's Courage!"

Meramon's body shook with strong tremors before finally falling still. Seasarmon jumped off, and as he did, the Virus data flew into Yumi's Digivice. Meramon returned to his normal coloration.

He slowly stood before looking down at the humans. He bowed his head in shame. "I am sorry, my friends," he apologized.

"It wasn't your fault," Yumi told him. "It was just some stupid Virus, and that's exactly why we're here. To stop those once and for all."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki stretched as she sat up from where she'd been sleeping in the cave Unimon had offered her for the night. DemiDevimon woke up shortly afterwards. "Morning, sleepyhead," she greeted.

The Rookie replied with a yawn before saying, "I'm glad that went well. Or... kinda well." He sighed. "I get the feeling it isn't always going to be this easy..."

"Me too, buddy," the brunette said with a sigh, twirling one of her thin pigtails. "Me too."

 **Next time:  
Kirra: Looks like it's going to be our turn soon.  
Palmon: I just hope it won't involve you being kidnapped.  
Kiira: No, that's Yumi's job.  
Yumi: Hey!  
Hana: You again!  
Miyuki: I said we're not—Oh, never mind! If that's how you want it...**

 **I didn't even realize that Yumi was going to be kidnapped again until midway through this episode. I wrote it ahead of time so I added it later in last episode's preview.**

 **I feel like I should explain something here. The reason that the info from the Digivice keeps saying 'None' for the threat level of their partners, even when they make it to Champion, if because they're no threat to the Digi-Destined. Also, these are the threat levels in relation to the state of a Digimon.**

 **Fresh or In-Training: None  
Rookie: Minimal  
Champion: Medium  
Ultimate: High  
Mega: Extreme**

 **And then we have the occasional extremely-superpowered Digimon that no one wants to mess with, and they fall under the 'Critical' threat level. Just wanted to explain that a little, even if some people kinda figured that out already. I just wanted to make it clear. That's all I've got for today, so...**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	4. Birds of Prey

**Now we're here for episode 4~ Hope you enjoy~**

 _ **Yumi:**_ _"We met this girl teamed up with a Virus, so she can only be bad news. But she ran off before we could do anything, so all we can really do now is keep an eye on her. We went into another website where we met Meramon. Unfortunately, he got infected and kidnapped me. Labramon got the others and they saved me, but not before Labramon Digivolved to Seasarmon! Now, we have to figure out our next move. I just hope it won't involve me being taken for the third time."_

* * *

Palmon looked up at her partner as the group walked back through the tunnel. Renamon and Labramon had both Digivolved to Champion, so now it was just the two of them left. After she became a Champion, they would all be one step closer to being able to defeat the Digimon causing all of this, whoever that was.

"Looks like it's going to be our turn soon," Kiira said, unknowingly voicing her partner's thoughts.

"I just hope it won't involve you getting kidnapped," the Rookie replied with a small laugh.

Kiira gave a teasing smile. "No, that's Yumi's job," she said, looking over at the lavender haired girl.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. Her eyes narrowed. Somehow, she just knew this was going to become some huge joke for the rest of their journey, however long it was.

"So," Kiira asked, looking at Hana, growing serious. "Where to, next?"

"Well," the blonde replied, "First we have to wait for another hole to open up to get us to another site."

"But for now, let's keep an eye out for Viruses here in the tunnel," Renamon advised.

"And that girl," Labramon added, referring to the brunette girl they had seen before that was partnered with DemiDevimon.

Hana nodded. "Whoever she is, she can only be bad news."

Yumi bit her lip. "Are we really sure about that?" she asked hesitantly. "I mean, yeah, she's hanging out with a Virus, but why would a human be with something evil?"

"She might have been brainwashed or something," Hana replied. It was becoming obvious that she really did not like this girl. "Either way, she's our enemy."

"Alright..." Yumi muttered, but she was seriously doubting that. A glance at Kiira told her that the other girl felt the same way.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki looked around the tunnel, keeping an eye out for any more holes that would lead her into a website like the one she'd just left. The more information she had, the better off she and DemiDevimon would be.

"Hey, DemiDevimon?" she began. Her partner looked at her curiously. "Those three girls... do you think there's any way we can convince them that we're on their side?"

"Not sure," the Rookie confessed. "I'm a Virus, and they're here for the same reason we are, so no matter what, they'll see us as an enemy."

"There's gotta be something we can do..." the brunette muttered, putting her hands in her pockets. Her right hand closed around her Digivice and she took it out, studying it. "Maybe with this, we can prove it to them. I mean, why would a Digi-Destined be evil, right?"

DemiDevimon nodded a little. "Yeah..." he began. "But that's only if we can get them to listen long enough for us to explain." He sighed. "And who knows how likely that is?"

"Let's try to think positive, alright?" his partner suggested. "But... if they attack us again and we don't have any other way out..."

"We need to fight back," DemiDevimon replied in a defeated tone. "I really hate this."

"Me too."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

They had found another hole, and when they went through, they found themselves in another forest, though this one seemed different. The trees weren't as tightly packed together, but they were all very thick and very tall.

"I wonder what kind of Digimon live around here," Kiira pondered. Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, small shadows flew over them.

"Looks like we're about to find out!" Palmon replied, trying to study the Digimon above. Three bird-like Digimon descended and perched on branches nearby. One was pink, one was red and white, and the other was red.

"Name: Hawkmon. Classification: Data. Threat: Minimal," Hana's Digivice reported about the red and white one.

"Name: Muchomon. Classification: Data. Threat: Minimal," came the voice of Yumi's Digivice about the red Digimon.

"Name: Biyomon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: Minimal." Kiira looked up from her Digivice, back to the three Digimon.

Hawkmon cocked his head. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I didn't know humans could be in the internet."

"Not normally," Renamon informed him. "But these humans have been sent here by their government in order to stop the Virus problem that has begun to plague their world."

Muchomon and Biyomon looked at each other. "We should let her know," the red bird told the pink.

"You're right," she replied. "Maybe she can help the humans." With that, she took off, making her way to the treetops.

"'She'?" Hana asked. "Who's 'she'?"

"Someone who can help you," Muchomon replied.

"Is she this area's protector?" Labramon asked.

Hawkmon nodded. "That's right. She keeps us safe from the Viruses that try to enter here."

"We're very grateful to her," Muchomon added. "I'm not sure where we'd be without her." They all looked up when a shadow covered them and a large flapping sound filled their ears.

"Who's that...?" Kiira asked and almost as if in response, her Digivice opened.

"Name: Birdramon. Classification: Data. Threat: Medium."

The large orange bird looked down at the humans curiously. Her feathers seemed to be replaced with flames. "So," she began. "You are the humans Biyomon tells me about."

"That's right," Hana said. "We know that the Digimon here were dragged into our internet from the Digital World, and that the Viruses are screwing things up in our world. We're trying to get rid of that problem."

"Who knows?" Yumi added. "Maybe, once that's taken care of, you guys can go home."

Birdramon closed her eyes for a moment. "I hope we can," she said before looking back down at them. "I miss our home. We will help you in any way we can," she assured the group.

"Do you know anything about the Virus in charge of all this?" Hana asked her.

The large firebird shook her head. "Unfortunately, I do not. I doubt anyone knows much about it. There are rumors, though none have made it to my ear."

"We'll have to see if we can pick up any chatter, then," Kiira suggested. "But right now, we can probably stay and try to figure out our next move, right?"

Birdramon nodded. Turning to Hawkmon, she said, "Please show our friends to a place they can stay while they are here." Hawkmon nodded in response before taking off, though he stayed low enough for the group to follow.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki smiled when she finally saw the ripple that she knew would turn into a hole once she touched it. Placing a hand to it, she watched as bits of data slowly fell away, creating the hole that was the door to another website. "You ready, DemiDevimon?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "Let's go."

When they entered, they found themselves in a dense forest, but there were no Digimon in sight. "Weird..." she muttered as she walked. "Where is everyone?"

"I don't know," DemiDevimon said. "But I don't like this. It's quiet."

"If you say 'too quiet' I will smack you," the brunette joked. She abruptly stopped and silenced herself when she heard something from above. Looking up, she saw movement in the branches, but she couldn't see what it was. She didn't like this...

A moment later, a ninja-like Digimon dropped to the ground. "Name: Shurimon. Classification: Data. Threat: Medium."

Shurimon just seemed to study the girl and her partner, making no move to attack, and as long as he kept their encounter peaceful, so would Miyuki and DemiDevimon.

"You are a human, yet you are partnered with a Virus," he stated, slight confusion in his tone.

The teen nodded. "Yeah," she said. "But he's not a bad guy, and neither am I." She sighed. "I know it looks bad, but please, just hear me out."

Before she could continue, however, he said, "I believe you."

"You... huh?"

"Three humans and their Digimon partners have already been through here. They had Digivices much like yours." Shurimon motioned to the device she was holding. "I trust that you are not here to harm us."

"The others have been through here, then?" DemiDevimon asked.

Shurimon nodded. "They have. You know them, then?"

"We've met," Miyuki said bitterly.

"But not on good terms, I take it?" he asked.

"Not at all," she replied. "They thought we were the enemy and attacked us." She sighed. "And they didn't listen when we tried to explain, either." Deciding to change the subject, she said, "So, what happened while they were here?"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

The girls and their partners sat in the shade of a large tree, trying to plan their next move.

"You know, with our luck," Labramon said, "this place is probably going to get infected by a virus while we're here."

His partner wanted to argue, but he had a point, considering how their last two 'visits' to websites had gone. "At least it will be while we're here, instead of somewhere else. Then we take care of it and there won't be too much trouble for this place later, right?"

Hana thought for a moment before her eyes widened. Could it be...?

Kiira caught the blonde's look. "You don't think..."

"What if the viruses are following us?" Hana asked. "Three websites in a row, and they've been fine until we got there. What if they're after _us_ , and the Digimon in here are just collateral?"

"That's a kind of morbid thought," Renamon began, "but I understand what you mean. We'll just have to be more vigilant. Maybe we can catch it in the early stage, before anything gets out of hand."

"I hope you're right," he partner said. "I really, _really_ hope you're right."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Biyomon watched the sky from her perch on a high branch. It was a nice day with hardly any clouds, and these were the kinds of days she liked. Hawkmon was out for a flight and Muchomon was gathering food, leaving her on her own. She looked to the highest tree where Birdramon had her nest. They were all grateful for the Champion's presence, for if she wasn't there, Virus Digimon probably would have swarmed this area by now. It wasn't their territory in the Digital World, but for now, it was home.

She shuddered as a chill ran down her back. Looking up to the sky, she saw dark clouds slowly gather and cover the sun. As she looked around, she froze when her eyes landed on Birdramon. She was slowly changing color, going from her normal bright orange to a dark grey.

"Oh, no," she whispered before leaving her branch and diving downward. She had to warn the humans.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Looks like it might rain soon," Kiira said, looking up to the darkened sky. Suddenly, a pink shape dove down at them.

"Biyomon?" Palmon asked. "What's the matter, what's going on?"

"It's a virus!" she warned. "It's infecting the area and it already got to Birdramon!"

The humans and their partners looked at each other. Hopefully this was just another odd coincidence. They really didn't want to be right.

"Well," Hana began, "first, we need to get to a more open area. We'll draw her out and get her attention. After that, we can free her, and this whole site, from the virus."

Kiira looked at the pink bird. "Why aren't you affect?" she asked curiously.

"Biyomon is a Vaccine Type, just like our partners, remember?" Yumi reminded her. "She's immune to it."

"So Hawkmon and Muchomon...?"

"Must be infected, too," Palmon said grimly. "We have to save them."

Hana nodded. "Let's go."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Birdramon was circling a bit further away, almost as if she was waiting for them. Her circling slowed and she landed on a large branch as she caught sight of them.

"Alright, you know what to do, Renamon," Hana told her partner.

"You, too, Labramon," Yumi said to her own.

"Got it," both Rookies said.

"Night Roar!"

Before either Digimon could Digivolve, large feathers flew down at them, most aimed at the humans. Renamon and Labramon dove to protect their partners, taking the brunt of the attacks.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled, using her extended vines to bat the large feathers away. She glanced at her friends, but neither were in any condition to battle. It was all up to her now. She had to do something.

"Palmon Digivolve to... Togemon!"

Kiira stared for a moment at her partner, who had just become a giant cactus with boxing gloves. "Um..."

"Name: Togemon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None."

"Don't worry, Kiira, I can take her down," the Champion told her. She looked up to Birdramon, who had focused on her. Good. As long as her attention was away from the others. Togemon looked back down at the girls. "You're going to want to take cover," she warned. They nodded and helped the other two Digimon make it behind the trees. Biyomon was with them. "Needle Spray!" Needles shot from her body, aimed right up at her opponent. Birdramon was hit and immediately prepared for another attack.

"Black Saber!" she yelled, diving down at the other Champion. Togemon, thinking fast, ducked out of the way and grabbed one of her legs, throwing her to the ground.

Meanwhile, Renamon and Labramon had regained their strength. They were about to help Togemon out when they heard the sound of many flapping wings. Looking behind them, they saw many Hawkmon and Muchomon heading in their direction.

"Great..." Yumi muttered.

Hana looked to Biyomon. "Go hide," she told her. "I promise, we won't be too rough with them."

"O-Okay," the pink bird Digimon agreed before flying into the trees, away from the approaching horde.

Renamon stood, holding a hand down for Labramon to grab in order to help him up. "Let's get this taken care of so that Togemon doesn't have anything more to deal with."

Labramon nodded. "You got it." He turned to the Digimon flying at them. The red part of the Hawkmon had turned a dark purple, and the Muchomon had turned purple, as well.

"Feather Strike!" the Hawkmon yelled, attacking first. The humans ducked as Renamon and Labramon jumped to avoid them.

"Diamond Storm!" Renamon yelled, firing her shards of light.

"RetrieverG!" Labramon yelled, letting out his own attack. The Rookies they hit were pushed back, deterred, but relatively unharmed.

The Muchomon looked back at their comrades before turning back toward their opponents. "Ice Prism!" they yelled. Shards of ice flew from their beaks. Many headed straight for Labramon, but he couldn't counter. He was busy with his own group of Muchomon.

Renamon acted immediately, ducking around all attacks that were sent her way, jumping in front of Labramon and lashing her tail out to knock the ice shards away. She landed gracefully on all fours before standing and taking a fighting stance. She put her back to Labramon's, looking at Hana and Yumi. "We're a bit outnumbered here," she stated. "We could use a little help."

"Right," the girls both said, pulling out their Digivices. The tops popped open and data poured from the orbs inside toward their partners.

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

Both Champions stood protectively in front of their partners. They wouldn't let their enemies near them.

Togemon grabbed Birdramon's leg again as she tried to return to the sky, throwing her back on the ground. "Sorry, Birdramon," she began. "But I can't let you back up there. Lightspeed Jabbing!" Her arms flew down at the infected Champion too fast to see. A pitiful pained noise escaped Birdramon before Kiira's Digivice opened. Just like before, it opened and black specks of data flew from Birdramon to the orb inside. The dark grey coloring slowly faded back to her normal bright orange, and the viruses left the Hawkmon and Muchomon as well. Data flowed from Togemon to Kiira's Digivice and she turned back into Palmon.

The humans and their partners looked to the sky to see the dark clouds slowly fade away, revealing the bright blue sky. Hearing rustling leaves, they turned to see Biyomon fly from her hiding spot in the trees.

"You did it!" she exclaimed happily before tackling her two friends in a tight hug. Hawkmon laughed and Muchomon tried to pry her off them.

Kiira smiled, looking back at Birdramon as she stood. "Togemon didn't hurt you too badly, did she?"

The Champion shook her head. "No," she replied. "All of the pain left with the virus. Thank you for saving us all. I am sorry for the trouble I must have caused."

"It's fine," Kiira told her. "I'm just glad you're not hurt. It looked kinda brutal."

"I'm sorry about that," Palmon said sheepishly. "I just... I didn't want you to hurt anyone, so... I guess I might have gone a little overboard."

Birdramon shook her head again. "You did exactly what you had to do, and for that, I am grateful." She spread her wings. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like to recover." With that, she took flight, returning to her original perch.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"I'm glad everything turned out okay," Renamon said as the group rested in the open plain they'd settled in. This earned unanimous nods.

"Unfortunately, it's probably just going to get harder from here," Yumi said with a sigh.

"What do you mean?" Kiira asked.

The hacker leaned back on her hands, closing her eyes. "Think about it. Yeah, we've gotten stronger, but if what those people who sent us here is anything to go by, so is the Virus behind all this. And what if that one's getting stronger faster than we are." She looked back at them. "Maybe we're in over our head."

"Even if we are, we still have to do our damnedest to see this through," Hana pointed out. "Everyone's counting on us. We'll just have to keep getting stronger. I think we've done pretty good so far, don't you? I mean, only a few days here, and all our partners are already up to Champion."

Kiira put a hand on Yumi's shoulder. "We have to try to stay optimistic," she said.

"I'm just trying to be _realistic_ ," Yumi replied.

Labramon frowned. He knew what his partner was trying to say, but he wished she wasn't. It was a legitimate concern, but it definitely dampened the mood. Deciding to steer the conversation a little, he said, "Now where to?"

The five heads swiveled in Hana's direction. It was an unspoken decision that the blonde was their leader, and so far, she'd been doing a good job. Hana thought for a moment. "We return to the tunnel in a little while, and then we see if we can find another site that might need our help."

"Sounds like a plan," Renamon said, the others nodding their head in agreement.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki walked through the tunnel, hands in her pocket. As always, her partner had taken his perch on her shoulder. That encounter with Shurimon and the Ninjamon had left her a lot to think about. Those three girls and their partners had done a good job in saving that site. She wasn't sure how she would do on her own. It would be so much easier to join with them, not to mention practical. But if their last encounter was anything to go by, they wouldn't accept her. She knew it was because DemiDevimon was a Virus Type, but she didn't blame him. He couldn't help what attribute he was, and she honestly thought it was pretty awesome that one of the so called 'bad guys' was actually a good guy.

"Thinking about them, huh?" her partner asked, not needing to clarify who he was talking about.

"Yeah," the brunette replied, gaze focused on the ground in front of her. "It would be _so_ much easier if we could join them. One, we wouldn't have to worry about fighting them, and two, I don't know if just the two of us can do what it took six to do back there." She nodded her head in the direction of the hole they'd come through awhile ago. She stopped abruptly when a familiar feeling came over her.

"What is it?" DemiDevimon asked.

"They're coming," Miyuki said simply, reaching for her Digivice in case it came to blows again.

"What do you want to do?" the Rookie asked.

"Try to reason with them," she replied. "And if that doesn't work... escape, if we can."

"And if we can't?"

"Hold our ground," Miyuki told him. "If we really _have_ to go down, we're going down fighting."

DemiDevimon looked down the tunnel as the six figures emerged from one of the passage holes. "I hope we don't have to."

"Me, too," the brunette informed her partner with a nod.

It took mere minutes for the black clad brunette and her partner to be noticed by the others.

"You again!" the blonde yelled, reaching for her own Digivice. The two girls behind her looked at each other before doing the same, but they didn't seem as angry.

"I said we're not—Oh, never mind!" She knew that they wouldn't listen. There would be only one way to end this, then. "If that's how you want it..."

DemiDevimon studied his three opponents. Just like last time, he didn't really favor his odds, but if they didn't fight now, they'd probably be running for a long time. This could end one of two ways. They won and managed to convince the group that they were on their side, or they could retreat and always be looking over their shoulder.

"Demi Dart!" the Virus Type yelled, throwing the syringe that had appeared in his claw, but all three of his opponents dodged out of the way.

"Diamond Storm!" Renamon yelled, jumping into the air as shards of light appeared in front of her. The attack hit DemiDevimon head on.

"RetrieverG!" Labramon attacked, throwing the already weakened Rookie back several feet.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled, vines wrapping around DemiDevimon before beginning to squeeze.

Miyuki's heart dropped as she watched what was happening to her partner. Without another thought, she made her way to his side, prying the vines off of him. She wouldn't let them kill her partner. As soon as he was free, she pulled him back, panicking when she saw his data phase in and out. She had to get away before they finished the job. Hugging him to her chest, she began backing away. The blonde girl took a step toward her, but the girl with lavender her and glasses put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. Miyuki took the chance to turn and run.

"Don't worry, DemiDevimon," she whispered. "I'll help you get better, I promise."

 _But we'll never be able to work with them. If they're willing to kill us... there's no way they'll see reason._

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Why did you let her get away?" Hana asked, turning to face Yumi, who had let go.

"Hana, calm down," she said. "I don't think she's our enemy. The only reason she fought back is because you wouldn't leave her alone."

Kiira nodded. "I mean, sure, her partner's a Virus, but what if he's different? Every rule has to have an exception. Maybe that's what he is."

The Digimon looked at each other. They hadn't thought about that, but it was an interesting point. What if they _weren't_ supposed to be enemies?

Hana looked at the other two humans before sighing. "Whatever. She got here a different way than we did, and we don't know anything about her. I still say she's bad news."

Renamon watched her partner. It was clear she saw this other girl as a threat, but the Rookie shared the same doubts as Yumi and Kiira. _Hana_ , she thought. _Give her a chance._

 **Next time:  
Centarumon: You're the human partnered with a Virus.  
Miyuki: You know about me?  
Centarumon: Word travels fast. You can stay here while your friend rests.  
Miyuki: Thank you.  
DemiDevimon: We've got trouble! I don't know if we can do this on our own, Miyuki.  
Miyuki: We have to.**

 **And that, my friends, is the end of episode 4~ Now we get to focus in a little more on Miyuki for a change. The big question, though, is whether Hana will ever accept her to join them. Right now, it doesn't look good. Also: I know Birdramon kinda turned into Saberdramon, but I still called her Birdramon because she was the same Digimon as before, just changed. I did the same last time with Meramon, who had technically become BlueMeramon. Anyway, it will basically continue on like that for any Data Digimon that has a Virus form. As for those who don't, their appearance and maybe slightly altered attacks are up to me. Also, please drop a review on your way out. Well, that's it for this time, so...**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	5. The Demon Inside

**Time for episode 5~ Let's get started, shall we~?**

 _ **Kiira:**_ _"We wound up in a website with a bunch of bird Digimon, where another virus hit. Palmon Digivolved to Togemon, so we got rid of that pretty quickly. We're a little worried now, though, that we might be attracting the viruses... After we left, we ran into that girl again, and just like last time, Hana decided it was a good idea to attack. She seems convinced that that girl's dangerous, but the rest of us, well... We're not too sure. I just hope that Hana will step back and think for a second if we meet up with her again."_

* * *

Miyuki didn't look back as she ran, holding DemiDevimon close to her. She couldn't afford to slow down, especially if the others were following her. She slowed when she saw a hole begin to open and allowed herself a glance back. Luckily, they hadn't followed her.

She paused, but when she didn't get that familiar sinking feeling, she stepped through.

She immediately found herself in a ruin of sorts. It looked like it had once been a temple, but was now just rubble and damaged pillars. Further away, she saw a building that was still half standing, although the stone creating it looked very worn. She didn't see any Digimon around, so she had a feeling they would all be in there. She didn't want to risk any confrontation, so she sat against one of the pillars. If anyone approached, she'd see them coming.

She smiled a little when she looked down to see DemiDevimon's data stabilizing. As long as they could rest and trouble didn't find them, he would be fine soon.

"I'm sorry," she told him, but her partner was still out cold, so he didn't hear her. "I wish they would just listen." She sighed, leaning her head back against the pole. "What are we going to do? Just run forever?" She paused. "I've been gone for a few days now... My dads are probably worried out of their mind. I didn't really get the chance to leave a note or anything." She gave a small laugh. "Sorry, I'll be gone for awhile, this person that came out of my computer needs me to save the internet. Be back whenever. Love you." She shook her head with a smile. " _That_ would go over well. They'd probably call the police _and_ the loony bin." She shook her head. If she kept thinking about home, she'd start getting upset, and she couldn't afford that right now.

A sound to her left made the brunette look up. She didn't see anything, but there were a few pebbles still rolling from wherever something must have run from. She had a feeling that whatever it was, it was hiding behind the rest of the rubble. This could mean one of two things. Either it was just timid and afraid of being seen, or it was trying to sneak up on her.

"Come out!" she called. "I know you're there!" A moment passed before a small cream colored head with a horn on its forehead peaked out at her. It seemed more nervous than hostile, making her relax a bit. "Don't worry," she said in what she hoped was a soothing tone. "We're not going to hurt you." She was about to ask its name when her Digivice beeped. After she pulled it out, the device popped open an image of the small Digimon appeared.

"Name: Terriermon. Classification: Data. Threat: Minimal."

"So, your name's Terriermon?" she asked. She leaned back against the pillar, hoping her relaxed posture made her seem less threatening. "I'm Miyuki."

"You're a human," the small Rookie stated, slowly coming out from behind the rock. She was holding her two long ears as though she was trying not to trip over them. "Does that make you a Digi-Destined?"

"That's what everyone's saying," Miyuki replied with a little smile. "So, you live here?"

Terriermon nodded. "Until we find a way back to the Digital World, this is our home."

 _They don't know how to get back..._ Miyuki thought. _Maybe stopping that Virus isn't all I'm supposed to do here._ The girl opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of approaching hooves. Looking up, she saw a centaur-like Digimon with what appeared to be a metal Roman helmet.

"Name: Centarumon. Classification: Data. Threat: Medium."

"You're the human partnered with a Virus," he observed. Terriermon walked over to the Champion and hugged one of his legs, looking up at him.

"You know about me?" Miyuki asked, stunned. She'd only been in two websites so far, so how would they already know her?

Though his face was covered, she could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. "Word travels fast." He looked down at the still unconscious form of DemiDevimon. "You can stay here while your friend rests."

Miyuki smiled at Centarumon. It was a nice change, after her last encounter with the other humans, to see someone so willing to trust her, despite the classification of her partner. "Thank you," she said sincerely. She stood, following the Champion back to the ruins he had come from. It looked like a nice day, but now that she knew that she wasn't in danger here, some shelter seemed like a nice idea.

Once inside, a much larger group of Terriermon swarmed around her curiously.

"Is this her?" one asked, looking from her to Centarumon. The Digimon laughed.

"She is," he told the little one. "However, I suggest you give her some room to rest. She appears to have had a difficult time as of late."

 _You can say that again_ , the brunette thought. She walked down one of the halls, looking for an unoccupied space. Eventually finding one, she sat back down and DemiDevimon began to stir. "Hey, man," she said with a small smile. "You alright?"

"I feel like I was hit by a bus..." he replied, still sounding a little woozy.

"Well, don't worry," she told him. "We're safe here. I didn't see the others follow us and the Digimon in this place don't mind us being here."

"Is anywhere really 'safe' when there are Viruses infecting Digimon like they are?" the Rookie asked softly. Miyuki paused. Her Digivice had told her that all the Terriermon, as well as Centarumon, were Data types. It would be all too easy for them to be hit with a virus that would make them turn on the Digi-Destined and her partner.

"You just rest up and we'll worry about that when you're stronger, alright?" she asked. For now, everything seemed fine. Nothing had attacked them here so far, and her instincts told her they weren't in danger at the moment.

The Rookie nodded and settled back in the human's lap, but didn't fall back asleep. "So, if you don't wanna talk shop... what now?"

"Not sure," she said honestly. She had been practically consumed with the constant worry of being attacked, so now that she and DemiDevimon had a moment to relax, she wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to do. "Well, what was the Digital World like?"

"Big," he replied, earning a laugh. "There were Digimon everywhere, you know? I lived in this forest with a bunch of other DemiDevimon, but one by one, everyone began disappearing. I was one of the last ones left. We spent a long time trying to figure out where they went. I'm pretty sure they got sucked in here, too, but I haven't seen any of them since I got here."

"Maybe we'll find some of your old friends somewhere," Miyuki commented. "That would be kind of cool."

"What about you?" the Rookie asked. "What was your home like?"

She gave a small smile. "It was nice. I was probably a slightly less than average student in a public high school. I didn't really have all that many close friends. I mean, I don't think I was really all that unlikable, but people are just... hurtful, you know?" Her mind briefly drifted to the other kids' reactions to her parents in an open house in third grade. "So if you don't get close, you can't get hurt." She shrugged. "But I have two loving parents. One's an artist, the other's a philosophy teacher. We used to have a cat, Nono, but we had to put her down a couple years ago."

"Nono?"

Miyuki laughed. "She used to get into a lot of things she wasn't supposed to, so we kept saying 'no-no'. Eventually, it was all she'd respond to, so that was her name." She sighed. "I miss my home." She paused, seeing the slightly dejected look her partner now wore. "Not that I don't like it here! I mean, it's awesome, being in the internet and having a cool partner, but it's just not the same. I guess I'm just... homesick."

"Me, too," DemiDevimon confessed. "Once this is over, we can go home. But that also means..."

"We won't be able to see each other again." Miyuki leaned her head back against the wall behind her. "This sucks."

"We can't ever find anything happy to talk about, can we?" the Virus joked.

"At least the Digimon here in this site are nice," the human said, trying to steer toward a lighter conversation topic.

DemiDevimon nodded. "I guess not all Digimon hate us." Hearing a noise, they both looked up. Moving toward them was the shy Terriermon Miyuki had encountered earlier.

"Um..." the little one began nervously. "I know you're helping us against the bad Viruses... so thank you."

The human nodded in response. "It's not a problem. And if I can, I'm going to try to find a way to get you all back to your homes." _I hope that's a promise I'll be able to keep..._

"R-Really?" the shy Rookie asked, looking up at her with hopeful eyes. "You can do that?"

"I can give it my damnedest," Miyuki told her. The Terriermon surprised her by hugging her.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I want to go home..."

Miyuki smiled a little and wrapped her arm around Terriermon. "Don't worry," she said. "Everything will all work out okay." She froze when a strong feeling hit her. Looking down at her partner, she asked, "Think you got your strength back?"

Knowing what she meant by that question, he replied, "Enough."

Miyuki looked back down at the small Digimon who had let go by now. "Stay here, alright? I think something's happening, and I want you to be safe."

"Did something happen to Centarumon?" Terriermon asked, worried for her protector.

"I'm not sure," the girl replied honestly. "Please, just stay here. I'll come back and get you when everything is safe, okay? I promise."

"O-Okay," the Digimon said, hugging her ears close to her body, apparently an action of comfort.

Miyuki looked at DemiDevimon who had now taken his normal perch on her shoulder. "You ready?"

"Whenever you are."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

They raced out to see Terriermon running in all directions. Apparently, this was an isolated virus, as Centarumon had become dark red with black plating and helmet. The top of his helmet was now made of flames. Whatever caused this virus seemed to be concentrated more on destruction than spreading. Was it after her?

"We've got trouble!" DemiDevimon yelled unnecessarily.

Almost as if in response to her thought, the contaminated Champion's head shot in her direction. "Shit..." she muttered, ignoring her partner.. DemiDevimon flew off her shoulder. If he was attacked, he wouldn't let his partner be collateral damage.

"Demi Dart!" the Rookie yelled, hoping to get in a long range attack to slow down his opponent before he dared get closer. Unfortunately, Centarumon swung his blaster arm in a circle, knocking the syringe off course before aiming. He looked back at his partner. "I don't know if we can do this on our own, Miyuki."

"We have to," she whispered, fists tightening. This would be so much easier if they had help, but she doubted that would be happening any time soon.

"Solar Ray!" he yelled as red light gathered at the blaster and shot forward, hitting DemiDevimon head on. The Rookie tumbled backward in the air. Maybe he didn't get his strength back as much as he thought he did...

Miyuki's fist tightened around her Digivice. There had to be _something_ she could do to help her partner.

Her thoughts were throw off track, however, when she saw Centarumon adjust his aim... He was about to fire at the Terriermon that tried to escape. "No!" she yelled, running forward. She couldn't let them get hurt... not when she promised that sweet little Rookie inside the ruins that everything would be okay.

The attack had finished charging by the time she reached them. She was now standing between the group and Centarumon. DemiDevimon was still getting his bearing. "Solar Ray!" Centarumon yelled. Time seemed to stand still as Miyuki held her ground and the attack hit her square in the chest until she slammed into a wall behind her. She tried to sit up but was too weak to do so. Her Digivice slipped out of her hand.

DemiDevimon's eyed widened as he saw his partner hit the wall. He'd just managed to get his bearing when he saw it. "Miyuki!" he yelled, terrified for his partner. He glared at the Champion. He didn't care if he was much weaker than his opponent. Somehow, some way, he would make Centarumon pay for doing that to his partner.

Miyuki's Digivice, now laying on the ground, opened and data flowing from it to DemiDevimon.

"DemiDevimon Digivolve to... Devidramon!"

Devidramon flew high into the air, four red eyes glaring down at Centarumon. "You're going to pay," he growled. He began to dive. Centarumon was about to step out of the way when the Virus yelled, "Red Eye!" Centarumon froze in place, unable to even raise his arm to attack. Devidramon's descent began to slow and he thrust his arms forward. "Crimson Claw!" The attack hit Centarumon with a strong force, causing the Champion to fall to his knees. Devidramon was about to attack again when the virus data began to flow from Centarumon to Miyuki's still-open Digivice. He backed off but never took his gaze off of the other Digimon, despite the fact that he had been 'cured'.

"What... happened?" Centarumon asked, holding his head as he began to stand.

"That did," Devidramon growled, thrusting an arm toward his partner's prone form. His eyes narrowed. "Now find a way to fix her, or you'll know exactly how she feels."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Hours later, Miyuki lay on a bed made of the softest materials around they could find, mainly leaves and grass a decent ways away from the ruins. Centarumon had even ventured out of the site once for more materials elsewhere. Miraculously, her back hadn't broken, but it had been badly bruised. Under normal circumstances, she would have to heal for months, but the Terriermon had found a healing solution that should have her on her feet in just a few days. For many hours after they had patched the human up, DemiDevimon kept a close, watchful eye on Centarumon. He may have been under the influence of a virus at the time, but with what happened to Miyuki, he wouldn't be able to forgive him just yet.

Finally, he left to go to his partner's side. On his way, though, a small, meek voice called out.

"H-Hello?"

He stopped. The voice was familiar. Looking in the direction it had come from, he saw the same timid Terriermon that they had told to hide.

"Is the girl okay?" she asked, looking worried.

"No," he said with a bitter tone. "She's not. Centarumon knocked her into a wall. Now she can't move for the next few days."

A brief moment of silence followed his words before Terriermon spoke up again. "I heard that she saved some of my friends. She... she didn't have to do that."

The Virus was about to agree with her when he stopped. He knew exactly what Miyuki would say if she'd heard. "Yeah," he told her. "She did. It's... just the way she is."

"Are you going to see her?" At DemiDevimon's nod, the other Digimon added, "Can I come with you?"

He looked down at her. She didn't care about the human as much as he did, but no one else cared about her that much except her family back home. He could tell, though, that the small Rookie _did_ care. "Alright," he said, resuming his trip, Terriermon in tow.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

The first thing Miyuki noticed when she woke up was the pain. Her back hurt more than she'd ever hurt before. She whimpered in pain before getting irritated with herself for making the noise.

The next thing she noticed was the voice talking to her. As the moments passed, she was able to tell what it was saying.

"—feeling? Are you okay?"

Opening her eyes, she saw a pair or worried yellow eyes directly over her. "Hey, DemiDevimon," she said, but it came out a whisper. She tried to sit up, but a wave of pain caused her to stop.

"Bet that hurts a lot," the Rookie said, worry in his voice.

She gave a small smile. "I feel like I was hit but a bus." Her partner gave a small laugh. "What happened?" she asked.

"We were fighting Centarumon when he got infected. He was going to shoot the Terriermon but you got in the way." He frowned. "The blast knocked you into the wall."

"How am I not dead?" she asked.

"Guess you hit it just the right way," her partner replied. "They said your back is bruised pretty badly, but there's this medicine they're using that should let you be up in a few days."

"That's good," the brunette replied. "I don't wanna be stuck here for a couple months... Are the Terriermon okay?"

"They're fine," DemiDevimon replied. "Really worried about you, though. Especially that one from when we first got here. They'll definitely be happy to know you're awake."

"And Centarumon?"

"I Digivolved and got the virus out of him, so he's fine now. Feels like shit, but he should, since—"

Miyuki's eyes narrowed. "You stop that," she said. "It wasn't his fault. He was being controlled by a virus. If he was in control of himself, I know he'd never do anything like that to anyone. So cut him some slack." She paused. "Can you go find him? I want to talk to him."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Centarumon sighed as he looked at the Terriermon playing together near the ruins. He had gone back near the hole to the tunnel to think. He was a decent distance from them while still being able to watch over them and easily stop anything malicious that might try to break through. He was surprised to see a small dark shape flying toward him.

"She wants to see you," DemiDevimon said bitterly. After he had been released from the virus's influence, DemiDevimon had mostly ignored him, occasionally sending hateful glares his way. And he knew, after he had seen the damage he had done to the human, that he deserved it.

"Very well."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki slowly turned her head to face the doorway when she heard the hooves come down the hall. It still hurt to do, but not as much as trying to sit did. "Hey," she said as soon as he was in view. "How is everyone?"

"You should be more concerned for yourself right now," Centarumon told her.

"Nah, I'll be fine," the human replied. "Nobody else got hurt, though?"

"None, thanks to you," the Champion said. He had temporarily immobilized her, yet she seemed to hold no grudge and was worrying more about others than she was herself. She was definitely a curious being. Were all humans like this?

Miyuki simply smiled. "It's what I'm here for, isn't it? Stopping the Viruses, protecting the Digimon... That's my job. And I don't mind it."

 **Next time:  
Yumi: Where to next?  
Hana: Come on, this place is just as good as any.  
Kiira: It looks like we might have a problem.  
Palmon: A big problem.  
BlackGatomon: Not all Viruses are as bad as you think we are.**

 **I know that ended weirdly, but it was a weird episode... I know that impact probably should have at least snapped Miyuki's spine, but it's Digimon. Digi-Destined have taken worse hits. Another reason for the potential weirdness: I wrote most of this today, over the course of about three hours. I didn't write much over the past week and I was hanging with one of my friends for quite awhile, so I didn't get back to it until some time between 4 and 5. That's probably why it's also shorter than I'd like it to be.**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	6. Open Your Mind

**Okay, here we are, episode 6~ Also, a little piece of information, this episode runs in tandem with the last one.**

 _ **DemiDevimon:**_ _"I got hit pretty badly in that last battle with those other girls. Miyuki brought us to a site where all the Digimon were pretty nice and I recovered. But a virus infected Centarumon, the site's protector, and he started attacking the other Digimon. Miyuki decided to protect them and got hit instead, flying back into a wall. I got pretty pissed off and Digivolved to Devidramon, attacking Centarumon and getting the virus out of him. Miyuki's still hurt pretty bad, with a bruised back, but with this medicine that was found, she should me up and about in a few days."_

* * *

Hana glared at the brunette girl retreating into the distance. She turned to Yumi, who had grabbed her shoulder. "Why did you let her get away?" she asked.

"Hana, calm down," the lavender haired girl said. "I don't think she's our enemy. The only reason she fought back is because you wouldn't leave her alone."

Kiira nodded, agreeing with her. They both thought Hana was going a little overboard with this. "I mean, sure, her partner's a Virus, but what if he's different? Every rule has to have an exception. Maybe that's what he is."

Their Digimon partners looked at one another. Kiira had a point. What if that girl and her partner weren't the enemy? What if they were supposed to work together?

Hana sighed. "Whatever. She got here a different way than we did, and we don't know anything about her. I still say she's bad news."

Renamon looked at her partner. She agreed that Hana might be taking this a bit too far. She could tell that her partner saw the brunette and DemiDevimon as threats, but maybe they weren't. _Hana,_ she thought. _Give her a chance._

Hana glared ahead of her. That other girl had run out of sight by now. The others didn't understand. Hana was a girl who often thought mathematically, and that girl was an unknown variable. She didn't like it.

They were walking in silence for about ten minutes when Yumi asked, "Where to next?"

Hana was about to say that she didn't know and they should keep walking when she saw a hole open up next to the group. "Come on, this place is just as good as any."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

They did not expect what they were met with. The girls and their partners were surrounded by buildings that seemed to be falling apart. There was a cracked street in the middle, leading far into the distance.

"What the hell...?" Hana muttered, looking around. The place seemed abandoned, without any signs of life.

"This place is completely abandoned..." Kiira said.

Her partner was about to agree with her when she saw something in the corner of her eye. She stopped and turned, looking for whatever she'd seen.

"You alright?" Labramon asked Palmon. "What's up?"

The plant Rookie shook her head. "It's probably nothing," she said. "I just thought I saw something."

"Like what?" Hana asked.

"I don't know, all I caught was some kind of shadow, but it was gone before I could really look at it," Palmon said. "Sorry..."

The blonde looked at her partner. Renamon nodded before leaving the group. She was the most agile of the group and as such, she was the best for recon. If there was something out there, she should be able to find it.

"What do you think it was?" Labramon asked.

"Considering what this place looks like," Palmon began, "nothing good."

"The Virus might already be here," Yumi commented. "So we should probably keep an eye out for survivors, if there are any Vaccine types here."

"Good idea," Hana told her with a nod.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Renamon ran, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, scanning the ground below for any signs of the enemy. She had grown slightly anxious, leaving her partner's side. She was concerned for Hana's safety, but she had Palmon and Labramon with her. She should be safe...

The Rookie was jolted out of her thoughts when a moving figure caught her eye. It was darting from building to building, sticking to the shadows. She followed it stealthily, waiting for it to move into plain view. She didn't like how sneaky it was being. Taking everything else they'd encountered in the other websites, that could only mean this figure, whatever it was, was bad news.

The two reached a four-way intersection. It had to come out now.

The figure paused before slowly moving into the light. It was a black bipedal cat Digimon. Renamon moved out of sight. She wanted to see where this Digimon was going.

"Who's there?" the other Digimon called out. "I know you're following me, so get out here and face me!"

Renamon sighed. She could pretend she wasn't there, but she wanted answers. Jumping from the roof, she landed in front of the Digimon. "Who are you?"

The cat Digimon crossed her arms. "I could ask you the same, Vaccine. Are you here to attack us?"

"What?" Renamon asked.

Yellow eyes narrowed. "You're not the first Vaccine Digimon to make their way in here and decide that we need to be exterminated."

"Start from the beginning," the Rookie requested. There was something here that she was missing, and she needed to know what it was.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

After another few minutes, the girls decided to take a break. They'd been on their feet almost nonstop since they'd left the last site. A small rest would be nice.

"I'm a little worried about Renamon," Kiira said. "She's still not back yet."

"I hope she didn't run into any trouble," Hana whispered. She really cared about her partner, and she would hate for anything to happen to the fox Digimon. "That shadow you saw..." she began, turning to Palmon. "It wasn't very big, was it?"

"No," she replied. "But just because it was small doesn't mean it's not really dangerous. I know Megas that are my size."

The blonde sighed, leaning back against a building. Something wasn't right about this place. It was too quiet.

"Are those humans?" she heard behind her, coming from inside the building.

"Shut up, moron! They'll hear you!" another voice hissed, coming from the same direction. The human stood, earning weird looks from her teammates. She put a finger to her lips as she approached the window.

Swinging the shutters open, she said, "Got you." A few small Digimon fell out onto the ground. They were round and indigo, with long ears.

"It looks like we have a problem," Kiira said. From the looks of these Digimon, they seemed to be Viruses. The group watched as more and more of them poured out the window.

"A big problem," Palmon agreed.

"Name: Pagumon. Classification: Virus. Threat: None."

"Okay, so they're really weak," Yumi said, "but we are _seriously_ outnumbered."

"We can take them out," Labramon said as he and Palmon prepared for battle.

"Wait!"

The five turned as a familiar voice called from a nearby roof. Renamon jumped down, followed by a black and purple cat Digimon. "They aren't our enemy," the Vaccine said.

"Name: BlackGatomon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Medium."

"What are you talking about?" Hana asked, crossing her arms. From everything they had seen, Viruses were the enemy. They were surrounded by said enemy, but Renamon didn't think they were in any danger. What was she thinking?

"BlackGatomon was the Digimon Palmon saw," Renamon explained. "She watches over the Pagumon here."

"So... we're in the domain of a bunch of Viruses?" Yumi asked, earning a nod from BlackGatomon.

"Yes," she said. She looked up at them with a hard expression. "Not all Viruses are as bad as you think we are." Her gaze drifted down to the Pagumon surrounding them. "You should get back inside," she told them.

"Sorry," one said as they all hopped back through the window. The Champion shook her head.

"So, let me get this straight," Hana asked, not completely convinced. "You're telling me that a bunch of Viruses live here, but you aren't trying to hurt anything?" A nod. "But you're Viruses. Everything we've been told taught us that Viruses are bad."

"Not all of us," BlackGatomon repeated. "Some of us didn't come here by choice. We were just pulled in one day. We've been trying to live here in peace until we're able to go home."

"You're a little small to be a protector," Kiira commented.

The Champion looked to the ground. "I'm not the protector. Ours was killed in battle. Protecting the little ones is the best I can do." She looked down the cracked road. "There are so many other Digimon out there on their own. All we want to do is be left alone." She sighed. "But _they_ won't give us that."

"They?" Palmon asked. "Who are 'they'?"

"Vaccines," she replied. "Freelancers, kind of. They think it's their job to get rid of every Virus they find, and that includes us. That's why I was sneaking around earlier, and why I keep the Pagumon inside."

"Haven't you tried to explain what's going on here?" Hana asked.

"We're Viruses, they're Vaccines. As far as they're concerned, everything that comes out of our mouths is a dirty lie," BlackGatomon said bitterly. "Nothing we try to do will convince them that we just want to be left alone."

Renamon looked at her partner. She had a plan, but she wanted to make sure that Hana approved of it. The human nodded, having an idea of what her partner was about to say. "Why don't we stay here until their next arrival? They should listen to us," she suggested. "You will finally be able to live without fear and eventually make it home."

BlackGatomon offered a smile. "Alright," she said. "Thank you very much." She began walking down one of the roads. "Follow me. I know somewhere you can stay for the night."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Is it just me, or is this place a little creepy?" Palmon asked. They all stood in front of what apparently used to be a hotel before it began breaking down.

Kiira turned to BlackGatomon. "Are you sure it's safe?" she asked.

"Yes," the Champion replied. "It may seem like it's about to fall apart, but I promise you, not even an earthquake could tumble this building."

"Thank you," Hana told her before the group went inside. It didn't take them long to find rooms as it was a small, one-story building. The humans each took separate rooms, but shared with their partners. At the moment, they were meeting in Hana's room.

"We have to help these guys," Yumi said. "Even though they're Viruses, they're completely innocent." She gave the leader a look. "Like someone else we know."

Hana crossed her arms. She should have known it would come back to that eventually. "This isn't the time for that. Maybe she is like these Digimon, but I still don't think it would be a good idea to let her in."

Renamon sighed. Her partner was being far too thick-headed. Steering the conversation, she said, "We have to keep an eye out for these Vaccines that try to attack them," she said.

"How are we supposed to fight them, though?" Kiira asked. "I mean, in the past, it was always, 'destroy the Virus, absorb it in the Digivice'. But we can't just kill other Digimon, right?"

"She's right," Yumi agreed. "What should we do?"

"Give them a warning," Labramon said. "Make sure they know to not come back."

"I'm going to have to agree with Labramon on that one," Hana said. She looked out the window. "Hopefully we'll know when these assholes get here."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

It was only a few hours later when they heard the chaos outside. Not taking the time to go to the entry, the teens and their partners vaulted out the ground floor window. They didn't want to waste a second. They weren't sure what level this enemy was at, but if it could destroy a protector, then it could easily take care of little In-Training Digimon like Pagumon.

Hovering above the same intersection where Renamon had met BlackGatomon were two Digimon that somewhat resembled angels. One was male with six wings and long golden hair, a metal mask covering half his face. The other was female with four wings and hair mostly covered by a long red scarf.

"Name: Angemon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: Medium."

"Name: Darcmon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: Medium."

"Hey, you two up there!" Hana yelled up to them. They both looked down.

"It's one of the humans we heard about," Darcmon said. "But what is she doing here?"

"She _should_ be exterminating the Viruses," Angemon said, grip tightening on the golden staff in his hand.

Renamon stepped forward. "Wait," she told them. "This is all a mistake. These Digimon don't want to hurt anyone, all they want is to be left in peace."

"I see they filled your head with their lies," Darcmon said, twirling her own, shorter staff while her other hand reached for the sword at her hip. "We're sorry, but I think we have no choice." She looked to the other Champion. "Angemon?"

"I agree," he said. "I truly am sorry, but the Viruses must be exterminated. If you stand in our way..."

"We'll just have to take you out with them," Darcmon finished. "Dancing Sword!" she yelled, drawing her sword and diving at Kiira.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled, vines wrapping around Darcmon's wrists and tossing her to the side. "No way I'm letting you hurt _my_ partner."

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon yelled as orange energy gathered in his fist before thrusting it forward and the energy shot toward Hana and Yumi. Renamon and Labramon acted on instinct.

Labramon pushed the humans out of the way before cupping his hands. Renamon jumped into them, pushing off and flipping midair before landing a kick at Angemon's stomach. It may not be much, but it did startle the Champion.

"RetrieverG!" Labramon yelled, firing his attack at Darcmon as she began to back away. No doubt, she was leaving this battle to Angemon and was about to go off and attack more of the Pagumon. The female turned and glared. "Dancing Sword!" she yelled again. Labramon began to dodge but the attack grazed him.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon called out. She reached for the Champion's sword. If she could get that away, it would be much easier to fight her.

Darcmon noticed the vines coming at her and batted them away with her staff before they could get a good grip. "Why are you fighting us?" she asked. "You're Digi-Destined, you should be helping _us_ fight _them_."

"That's not a fight, that's just picking on some Digimon weaker than you," Yumi accused.

Renamon, meanwhile, focused her attacks on Angemon. "Diamond Storm!" she yelled, twisting midair to push off from a wall when he retaliated with his own attack. "Listen to me," she began. "You need to understand, not everything is as black and white as you want it to be. There are gray areas. There are Viruses who don't want to hurt anyone." Her eyes narrowed. "And then there are Vaccines like you who get their kicks taking out Digimon who don't want to fight back." She bounced off another wall, heading straight for him. "You disgust me." She landed another solid kick before flipping and landing on her feet.

Hana stared at the Rookie. She had a good point. Math was always black and white, no grays. She didn't like to think about those. Something either was or it wasn't. There were rules, and those rules couldn't be broken our you'd mess everything up. Maybe...

She was jolted out of her thoughts when she heard a loud thud. All three of their partners had been thrown into a nearby wall, causing the whole building to shake.

"We have to do something," Yumi said.

Hana nodded. "Right." The girls opened their Digivices.

The energy flowed from their Digivice to their partner, yellow to Renamon, white to Labramon, and green to Palmon.

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

"Palmon Digivolve to... Togemon!"

Darcmon shot Angemon a nervous look. Two Champions against three Rookies didn't seem too bad, but right now, she really didn't like their odds. But the other angel Digimon seemed unwilling to back down. "Even though you Digivolved, we still can't let this go on." He shook his head. "We have to make you understand, and if the only way to do that is through battle, then so be it." He raised his fist. "Hand of Fate!"

Togemon raised her owns fists, holding them together as they absorbed the majority of the blow. "Needle Spray!" she retaliated as the others ducked and dodged out of the way.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon yelled, aiming for Darcmon. The arrows hit her, forcing her to the ground. She glared as she slowly stood and was about to raise her sword when Kyubimon appeared right in front of her. She hadn't even seen the fox move.

"I wouldn't," Kyubimon suggested, nodding at the sword. Darcmon saw that faint glow appearing on the ends of her opponent's tails. She gulped and set down her sword. Her eyes drifted up to Angemon. Maybe fighting these Digimon wasn't such a good idea.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon yelled, aiming at Seasarmon, away from Togemon. She could block his attack so he would have to go after the weaker link. Seasarmon jumped, but as had happened with Darcmon's attack as Labramon, it grazed him.

"Come on," he said. "The kids are right. These Digimon aren't going to hurt anyone. Hell, most of them _can't_ hurt anyone!"

Darcmon looked around. Peeking through the windows were a few Pagumon. They looked... scared. These Digi-Destined were planting seeds of doubt, and seeing these poor In-Training Digimon only added to it. Though Angemon, she knew, would be harder to convince.

"Hand of Fate!" the Champion in question yelled, this time aiming at Hana. These other Digimon were always dodging his attacks, but he knew one of them would surely get in between his attack and the girl, allowing for a direct hit.

He was stunned, however, to see a black shape run out from a building and jump, taking the blow head on. The figure was knocked to the ground and went rolling several feet. Silence seemed to fall over them as they all looked.

BlackGatomon lay on her side, badly hurt by the attack and impact with the ground. Yumi, being the closest to her, ran over and kneeled down, resting the small Champion's head in her lap. She looked up at Angemon. "Is this what a normal Virus would do?" she asked. "The kinds of Viruses that we're both fighting, the ones that are trying to hurt this place and other Digimon... Would they risk their own life to protect someone else's?"

Angemon was speechless. This was going against everything he'd ever thought. Viruses that wanted peace... It was a mind-blowing concept.

Darcmon took the moment to take to the air and hover by her friend's side. She put a hand on his arm. "We were wrong, Angemon," she said softly. She turned to the girls and their partners. "I'm sorry. We both are."

"If there's anything we can—" Angemon began.

"You've done enough," Kyubimon said icily before turning her back on them and she and the others brought BlackGatomon inside.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

She was in bad shape, but they'd done the best they could. One Pagumon had led Kiira to what appeared to be an old pharmacy to get some bandages. They bandaged the Champion and stayed with her until she awoke.

"You okay?" Yumi asked softly as yellow eyes slowly opened.

"The... The Pagumon?" BlackGatomon asked.

Renamon gave a small smile. "All safe," she assured her. "Angemon and Darcmon left. I believe they are gone from this place for good. They understand now." She gave her partner a sidelong glance. _As do you, I hope_.

"I could never thank you enough," BlackGatomon told them.

"I think you did, taking that hit for me," Hana told her. "That was really brave."

"I couldn't stand by and do nothing," she replied. "You are the ones that are supposed to free us from the Virus looming over us. You are the ones who can save us all."

Palmon smiled. "We're just glad you're safe."

 **Next time:  
Kiira: What is this freaky place?  
Yumi: It looks like some kind of castle...  
Labramon: I've got a bad feeling about it.  
Palmon: If **_**you've**_ **got a bad feeling...  
Miyuki: Need some help?**

 **Despite how short it is (I know, not really, but I prefer to break 4,000 words per chapter) and how little time I wrote it in (you can probably tell by the time it's posted that this is** _ **very**_ **last minute), I like the way this turned out. And to those of you who have followed my stories, especially Digimon Academy and its sequel, you're probably surprised I let BlackGatomon live. Trust me, me too. But it's too early for people to start dying left and right! Though I don't think this one will have as much as Academy did. Anyway, that's all I've got for you this time.**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	7. Strength in Numbers

**Now, here we are with episode 7~ Enjoy~ (Also, remember that I use google translate for a lot of the foreign languages because I know very little of many languages, but not enough to piece together a full sentences. I can only really say "Where is the bathroom?" in four languages and a few other useless sayings)**

 _ **Renamon:**_ _"We found ourselves in a village full of Viruses, yet they didn't want to hurt anyone or anything. There were some Vaccines, however, that didn't seem to want to believe that. Luckily, we managed to subdue them and convince them to leave. I believe all of this, however, has opened Hana's mind a little bit. Maybe she won't be ask harsh on that other girl, now."_

* * *

Hana stared at the ground, hands in her pockets as they walked through the tunnel. She was still trying to process what had happened back there in that last site...

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

 _"So, let me get this straight," Hana asked, not completely convinced. "You're telling me that a bunch of Viruses live here, but you aren't trying to hurt anything?" A nod. "But you're Viruses. Everything we've been told taught us that Viruses are bad."_

 _"Not all of us," BlackGatomon repeated. "Some of us didn't come here by choise. We were just pulled in one day. We've been trying to live here in peace until we're able to go home."_

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

It was difficult to wrap her head around. Viruses that were good... or neutral, at least. Could the others be right? _Could_ that girl not really be all that bad? The blonde was still suspicious about how the brunette got into the internet in the first place, but she was beginning to doubt that she meant them harm.

Renamon watched her partner silently. She had a good feeling she knew what was going through Hana's mind, and she was proud of her. The Rookie allowed herself a small smile. Hana was beginning to doubt her first assessment of the girl and her Virus partner, DemiDevimon. Normally, she should be concerned that the teen was doubting herself, but in this situation, when everyone else disagreed with her... it was nice. Now, if they managed to run into the girl again, maybe they could get her to join them.

Keeping an eye out for any holes to take them to another site, the group continued to walk, all lost in their own thoughts. Yumi's thoughts drifted back home. She wondered what her parents were doing... Did they miss her? She'd only been gone a little less than a week, but it already felt like forever. She had no idea how long this would take, she just hoped it would end soon. She was already getting homesick.

Labramon looked up at his partner and frowned. He had a good feeling he knew what she was thinking about. All the humans probably missed home. He knew he missed the Digital World, and Renamon and Palmon probably did, too. He scanned the walls for a hole to go through. The sooner they ended this, the sooner they could all go home, though that would mean that they would have to say goodbye. The Rookie had to admit, he was torn.

"Look," Kiira said, pulled everyone out of their thoughts. She poeinted to a ripple that began to form in the wall. It was another hole that was forming.

Hana looked up, walking toward it. It was always a little nerve-wracking, since they never really had any idea what to expect when they went through. But she couldn't show hesitation. She was their leader, so it was her responsibility. She stepped through, followed by the others.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki stretched carefully as she stood. The medicine had worked miracles. It had only been a few days and she was already on her feet.

Centarumon stood in front of her, ready to catch her if she fell, since he was the only one tall enough to do so. "Once again, I am truly sorry," he told her.

"And once again, it's fine. It wasn't your fault," the brunette said, though her partner was still glaring at the Champion. "DemiDevimon, I told you to quit it." Taking a few steps, she smiled. There was only a dull ache, which was easy to ignore. Just a few days, it hurt like hell to just sit up. Looking at the few Terriermon gathered at the door to watch her, she said, "Thank you for this."

"I should warn you," the Rookie that had given her the medicine, "It isn't perfect. I don't know if its effects will last, or what side-effects it might have."

"As long as I'm mobile," Miyuki replied. "I have a job to do. And nothing, not even a busted back, is going to stop me."

"Maybe you should rest a little bit more, then," DemiDevimon suggested, sounding more than a little worried. He didn't want her getting hurt any more that she already was.

The girl shook her head. "No can do, DemiDevimon," she told him. "I've already been out too long. We need to get back to work if we're ever going to help these guys, and the rest of the Digimon get back to the Digital World."

He sighed. Miyuki was extremely stubborn. It would take a lot to get her to change her mind, and he knew it would just waste even more time. "Alright," he said.

Miyuki carefully made her way back to the exit of the site, ready to head back into the tunnel. "Thank you all for everything you've done," she told them with a smile. "I'm going to do my best to get rid of this whole Virus problem and send you guys home." With that, she went through.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"What is this freaky place?" Kiira asked, looking around. The area around them was surrounded by tall walls. The hole had opened through one of them. The grass around them looked dried and dead, and the stones that made up a path were cracked and broken. The path led to a large stone building with tall towers. The sky was covered in a dark grey haze.

"It looks like some kind of castle..." Yumi whispered, staring at the giant structure. The gate leading inside was open, but they were all hesitant to enter. The castle was practically sending off waves of danger. This would not be easy.

"I've got a bad feeling about it," Labramon said quietly.

Palmon looked at the dog Digimon nervously. He was usually the one to run straight into a situation, no matter how dangerous it seemed. "If _you've_ got a bad feeling..."

Hana steeled herself. "We can't just stand here all day," she said, hoping she sounded calmer than she felt.

As they approached, they saw words carved on the wall, but they definitely weren't in Japanese. Remembering Kiira's little 'skill', Hana turned to her.

The translator stepped toward them. "It's German. 'Hüten Sie sich vor allen, die eingegeben werden. Du sollst nie entkommen.' Beware all who enter. You will never escape." She looked at Labramon. "You're not the only one with a bad feeling here."

"We can't let ourselves be scared off by some words on the wall," Hana said. "Let's go." With that, she stepped inside. The others quickly followed. It would be dangerous for her to go in alone.

Yumi paused. "Did you guys see that?" she asked, looking down the hall, near one of the corners.

"See what?" Labramon asked his partner.

"I don't know, some kind of... white shape. It was over by that corner." She pointed. "Then it just... went through the wall."

"Maybe your mind is playing tricks on you," Kiira suggested. "This place is creepy enough to do that to you."

Yumi frowned. "No, I _swear_ I saw something." She crossed her arms, adding quietly, "And if I get kidnapped again by that damn thing, I'm going to be pissed."

"Let's just keep going," the leader suggested. "Maybe we'll run into that whaterver it was sooner or later. We can probably take it, anyway."

"Yeah, okay," the lavender haired girl relented. "Whatever you say." The group continued walking, but she kept her eyes on the walls and ceilings, waiting for it to drop in on them.

She didn't have to wait long. A white figure flew toward them through the wall to their left, followed by many more from both sides.

"Shit," Hana said, pulling out her Digivice. The other two did the same.

"Name: Bakemon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Medium."

"That makes them Champions, right?" Yumi asked. "We should probably level the playing field, then." Her Digivice opened, as did Hana's and Kiira's. The data flowed from the small boxes to the Rookies.

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

"Palmon Digivolve to... Togemon!"

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

Hana looked around them, trying to figure out what their best course of action would be. Since all the 'grunts' were Champions, she didn't like the odds they would have against their boss. "Seasarmon, you take the ones to the left! Togemon, to the right! And Kyubimon, focus on the ones in front of us. We need to get rid of these guys fast!"

"Got it!" the three Champions said before going to their respective positions.

"Needle Spray!" Togemon yelled, attacking the Bakemon on her side that were heading for the humans. She wouldn't let them get hurt.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon called out, firing his own attack to ward off the Bakemon to the left. It pushed them back, as did Togemon's attack, but didn't destroy them.

Kyubimon ran forward at the Bakemon that blocked their way forward. "Dragon Wheel!" she yelled, rolling and becoming consumed with a blue flame. She knocked more of their opponents out of the way. Unfortunately, the ghost Digimon recovered quickly.

"We might have a problem," Yumi commented as their partners continued to be very outnumbered. Bakemon didn't seem to be very strong Digimon, but with sheer numbers, it wasn't looking good.

"Zombie Claw!" many of the Bakemon called out, long blue arms shooting out from under their cloaks and slashing at the three Digimon. They were all knocked back, slamming into each other.

"Not good," Hana muttered, quietly agreeing with her teammate.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki walked through the tunnel, looking for another hole to go through. Another site to save.

She slowed as a pit began forming in her stomach. She knew that feeling well. She saw a hole to her left and walked toward it. The feeling grew stronger. As much as she dreaded going in, she knew she had to. The worse the feeling, the more important it was for her to go in. And this one felt _bad_.

"Alright, DemiDevimon, let's go," she said, stepping through.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Fox Tail Inferno!" Kyubimon yelled as soon as she stood, albeit a little unsteady on her feet. She and the others had been hit time and time again, and it seemed like every Bakemon they destroyed, another immediately popped up to take its place. Things weren't looking good, but they couldn't die here.

Togemon followed the fox Digimon's lead, slowly standing and offering Seasarmon a gloved hand to help him up. She then threw herself at a group of closely knit Bakemon. "Lightspeed Jabbing!" she yelled, and every hit destroyed another Champion. The replacements were beginning to slow, but she wasn't sure if they would be able to keep going before their enemies dwindled away to nothing. And then, of course, there was whatever Digimon was in charge of this place.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon yelled, aiming at a group getting too close to the humans for his liking.

"Thanks, Seasarmon!" Yumi called over once the Bakemon that had been about to attack them disappeared, their data flowing into her Digivice.

"Zombie Claw!" the Bakemon yelled again, once again throwing the humans' partners against each other. They didn't get up this time.

"Crimson Claw!" they heard as a large black Digimon dove at them. They prepared for a killing blow, but it never came. Instead, the large, four eyed Digimon continued past them, slicing at the weakened Bakemon with ease.

The three humans stared as the large Digimon sliced their opponents. The data flew past them.

"What the...?" Hana began.

A familiar figure walked out of the shadows, dark blue Digivice open and absorbing the data from the destroyed Bakemon. "Need some help?" she asked.

"You!" the blonde said. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" the brunette asked as the large Digimon finished off the last of the Bakemon. "Saving your sorry asses." She sighed. "Look, I don't care that you guys don't like me, or trust me, but I'm here for the same reason you are. So how about we work together for now, and I'll be out of your hair once this is all over with?" She walked toward Hana and held her hand out. "Truce?"

The blonde studied her for a moment. She _seemed_ sincere. "Fine," she said, taking the hand and shaking on it.

"My name's Miyuki Otori," she told them.

Kiira was the first to speak up. "I'm Kiira Wakui. This is Yumi Orihara, and that's Hana Harusawa."

Miyuki smiled. "Nice to meet you all properly." She walked over to her partner. "Alright, Devidramon, we're working together with these guys now, so behave, huh?"

Devidramon glanced down at her. "You just be careful, alright?"

"I'm fine, I promise," the brunette told him. She knew he'd be worried about her the rest of her time here. She looked back at the other girls as they slowly helped their partners up, Kiira being careful of Togemon's needles. "Let's get going, then," she suggested, staring to walk, about to turn into a right hallway.

"Hey, do you even know where you're going?" Hana asked with a raised eyebrow.

Miyuki shrugged. "I get feelings about things. And those feelings are telling me that whatever we need to fight is in this direction."

"And you just trust these 'feelings' all the time?" the blone queried, crossing her arms.

"They're almost always right," she replied. "So yeah, I trust them." She gave a half smile. "They led me here, didn't they?" The leader didn't have a response to that. She had a point.

Miyuki continued walking, followed by Yumi, Kiira, and their partners. Hana sighed and walked with them.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"So, how did you get here?" Yumi asked her as they continued on.

"This weird figure came out of my computer and brought me here." At the looks she received, she asked, "That wasn't how you got here?"

Kiira shook her head. "No, we got recruited by the government. They found out about the Virus in charge being intelligent, so they needed to send people in. I don't really know why they picked a group of teenagers, but hey, we're here and we have more important things to focus on." She paused. "That's one of the reasons Hana never liked you. We had no idea how you got here and..."

"She thought I was working with the Viruses, right? Because of my partner?" the brunette guessed, earning a nod. "I kind of figured. I got that speech from this Vaccine Digimon I ran into, Unimon." She glanced behind them to see Hana glaring. She wasn't sure if it was because she had temporarily stolen the leader role of if she still didn't trust her. "Looks like she _still_ doesn't like me," she commented.

Seasarmon looked at her. He, Togemon, and Kyubimon had started feeling a little stronger, so they were at least a little more confident about the coming battle. "Don't worry. We think you're pretty cool, at least."

"Thanks," Miyuki said. She glanced up at her partner. He'd been oddly silent. She had the feeling that he liked them just about as much as Hana liked her. He seemed a little more aggressive when he Digivolved. Then again, the only other time he'd been Devidramon was when she got seriously injured by the virus infected Centarumon.

"You know," Yumi said, looking from the girl to her Virus partner and back. "We wouldn't really mind if you stayed with us."

"Well, that all depends on Harusawa, doesn't it?" Miyuki asked, still ignoring the dull ache that had yet to go away. She expected that to be there for awhile, since medicine could only go so far. "She's your leader, right?"

"Yeah, but Renamon might be able to convince her to change her mind," Kiira commented. "I know she doesn't think you're all that bad, either."

The brunette grabbed the end of one of her pigtails and started twirling it around her finger. "Well, we'll see, right? For now, we should probably just focus on this."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

It didn't take them long to find a throne room of sorts. And sitting on said throne was a tall, black Digimon with large tattered wings.

"I see you took care of my minions," he said.

"Name: Devimon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Medium."

Hana studied him. "He's got to be pretty strong for a Champion if he can control the Bakemon so easily."

"Aren't you glad we showed up, then?" Miyuki asked, glancing back at her. She was ignored.

"So, I guess you're a Virus's version of a protector, huh?" Kiira asked.

"I suppose I could be called than, yes," he replied with a vicious smirk. "Now, it's time for you to die." He stood, raising an arm. "Touch of Evil!" His arm went through Devidramon's head, though the other Virus didn't seem harmed in any way. The group expected Devimon to be angry at his failure, but instead, he still bore that smirk. "Destroy them," he said, and to Miyuki's surprise, her partner turned back to the group.

"I told you these guys were bad news!" Hana told the rest of her team.

Kyubimon shook her head. "No," she said. "Devimon's Touch of Evil allows him to control whatever Digimon he uses it on. And now he's got Devidramon."

Miyuki's mind raced a mile a minute, trying to figure out what to do. The pit in her stomach was growing worse and worse by the second. She had to do something before someone got seriously hurt. "Devidramon, don't!" she yelled as he raised a claw toward the group. She took a step forward, refusing to hesitate. She couldn't risk it. "Remember who you are," she pleaded. "Come on, I know you're a little hotheaded, but you can't let this guy control you."

The Champion's arm stayed where it was, but when his gaze fell on her, it was blank. His red eyes glowed and his partner found herself unable to move. _What the...?_ she thought.

The other three partner Digimon looked at each other. They knew this Virus was their ally, but at the moment, they had to fight him. This was _not_ good, however, for convincing Hana that they could trust these two.

Kyubimon looked from Devidramon to Devimon, who was standing there with his arms crossed, still smirking as he watched Devidramon about to destroy his own partner. He seemed distracted, so it would be the perfect time to attack, but at the same time, they couldn't leave Miyuki at his mercy. Looking at Seasarmon and Togemon, she said, "You two make sure Devidramon doesn't hurt anyone. Devimon is mine." As soon as the other two nodded, she darted forward, tails glowing with their small blue flames, without stopping, she yelled, "Fox Tail Inferno!"

As the attack hit, she could hear Seasarmon and Togemon cry out their attacks. As Devimon became distracted, though, his hold on Devidramon began to waver. The red eyed demon Digimon turned toward Devimon, glancing at Kyubimon before focusing on the enemy again. "Move away, Kyubimon," he growled, and seeing the look in his eyes caused the yellow fox to back away. He had the most right to handle this.

"Crimson Claw!" Devidramon yelled, sending Devimon flying into the wall before grabbing him and beginning to squeeze. "You made your biggest mistake, making me attack my own partner," he growled, squeezing tighter. He tossed the other Champion back into the wall before attacking again. "Crimson Claw!"

Once Devimon was destroyed, he turned back to his partner. "Miyuki?" he asked as she became able to move again. She tried walking toward him before stopping, gritting her teeth in pain. The ache in her back was growing stronger.

The brunette refused to let her injury hold her back. Hopefully, the pain would pass quickly. She looked back at the others. Kiira, Yumi, and their partners, as well as Kyubimon looked at her with worry, but Hana was just glaring. No doubt, she thought Devidramon was too dangerous just because he was controlled. For being a genius, she sure was stubborn. But Miyuki didn't want to stay where she wasn't wanted. She looked up at Devidramon. "Let's get out of here," she said quietly, but her heard her anyway, gently picking her up and placing her on his back before leaving. Yumi and Kiira watched her go as their partners returned to Rookie level. They wanted to stop her from leaving, but before they could say anything, she and her partner were already gone.

 **Next time:  
Kiira: We need her on our side and you know it.  
Yumi: I think she proved she isn't as dangerous as you think she is.  
Hana: How do we know that her partner won't turn on us again?  
Kiira: Oh please, he was being controlled.  
DemeDevimon: Are you sure you want to go back there?  
Miyuki: What choice do I have? It's only going to get tougher from here.**

 **Whoa, boy. First, I did this one last minute, too. And it just kinda ran away from me. I mean, I planned for this to be the episode that Miyuki joined the group, but obviously, that didn't happen. I believe someone once commented on how it seemed like Hana wasn't being very smart in regards to Miyuki, despite being a genius. This is true, but as stated above, she is very stubborn. She hates admitting she's wrong, even to herself. Hence why she used Devimon's controlling of Devidramon as 'evidence'. Anyway, since that episode flew away from me that much, I honestly have no idea how this next one's going to turn out.**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	8. Do You Trust Me?

**Hey, guys. I know this one is also pretty last-minute, but I admit that I'm finding it hard sometimes to find the motivation to write this. I just doesn't draw me in as much as Academy did, or at least, not at the moment. I think things will pick up in awhile and I'll be able to really get into it. Maybe when I throw one of my famous curveballs at you. Anyway, let's get going, shall we~?**

 _ **Palmon:**_ _"We wound up in another Virus-run site, but this one wasn't nearly as friendly as the other one. Things were looking pretty bad until that girl, Miyuki, showed up with her partner, Devidramon. They helped us, but when we got to Devimon, the leader of the area, he controlled Devidramon. Hana used some screwed up logic that that meant that they were still threats. Now, Miyuki and Devidramon left. Guess we're back to square one again..."_

* * *

Devidramon had reverted back to DemiDevimon, but he was watching his partner carefully. The only reason he had gone back to Rookie level was to save some strength in case they ran into another battle. He had initially wanted to stay as Devidramon, but Miyuki had pointed out that that would be drain his energy sooner. He wished he could carry her, though. Her back was still bothering her. Not as much as it had been in the castle, but it still bothered her nonetheless.

"I think we might have blown our one chance in joining them," DemiDevimon said. "I'm sorry..."

The brunette shook her head. "It's not your fault. You were being controlled, just like my back wasn't Centarumon's fault." She gave a pointed look, causing him to pause. He had still been extremely pissed about the Centarumon thing, but now he was beginning to see it from the Champion's perspective. Okay, maybe it wasn't _really_ his fault...

"So, now what do we?" the Rookie asked. "We're on our own, probably for good, now. Do you think we can handle all this?"

"No," Miyuki replied. "We need to find some way of convincing them we're on their side."

DemiDevimon looked at her for a minute. "If saving their lives didn't convince them, I'm not really sure what will."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

The three girls and their partners exited the site, walking through the tunnel and continuing their argument.

"We need her on your side, and you know it," Kiira said, irritated. She, Yumi, Labramon, Palmon, and Renamon had all been trying to convince her that it would be better for them to have Miyuki on their side, but the blonde just refused to listen. It apparently 'didn't fit into her equation' or something like that.

"I think she proved she isn't as dangerous as you think she is," Yumi added. She actually kind of liked Miyuki. The girl may not be considered a genius like the three of them, but that didn't mean she wasn't smart or useful. Sure, her grades might not be the best, but she was more street-smart that the rest of them put together.

"How do we know that her partner won't turn on us again?" Hana asked, arms crossed. "He could have killed us."

Kiira rolled her eyes. "Oh, please," she said. "He was being controlled. And you know it."

Renamon studied her partner, hoping she would see reason. She was a logical girl, but she was just too stubborn to see what was right in front of her.

Palmon, wanting to ease the tension around them a little, said, "Well, we need to find somewhere else to go." _Maybe we'll run into Miyuki again and can get it through Hana's head that she's not our enemy..._ she mentally added.

"Whatever..." the blonde muttered, falling silent as she continued to lead.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

The next hole led them to what appeared to be a row of factories. The silence surrounding them was unnerving. The place looked abandoned, but they weren't going to let their guard down.

"How are you guys feeling?" Hana asked the Digimon. She wasn't sure if they had completely recovered from the damage they'd take back in the castle, and whatever lingered around here might be just as bad, if not worse. They needed to be able to rest, but they couldn't do that in the tunnel since there was always a risk of something dropping in on them at any moment. It hadn't happened in a while, but that didn't mean it would never happen again. And with their luck, it would be when they were at their weakest.

"Could be better," Labramon admitted.

"Definitely," Palmon agreed.

"I may be ready for battle, but I am not sure how long I would be able to keep it up," Renamon stated. She had always recovered fairly quickly, but they had taken some pretty hard hits.

Yumi looked down the long street lined with factories on both sides. "Maybe we should see if one of these is empty and rest in there for awhile. We can take shifts, too. I'm getting kind of tired.

"I'll go," Renamon said, seeming to disappear.

"I still can't get over how fast she is..." Hana muttered as she looked down the row of factories, Renamon appearing, looking through a window, and disappearing again. Moments later, she returned to their side.

"The first three are currently empty, but I believe they have someone living in them, they are just currently away," the reported. "But the fourth looks like it hasn't been touched in years."

Hana looked at the empty area around them. She still didn't trust the apparent peace. "Let's stay in the shadows until we get there. We don't want to attract any unnecessary attention."

The rest of the team nodded, and they managed to make it to the factory unnoticed. A low window was broken, so they didn't have to risk making a lot of noise by opening the door. Once they were all inside, they sat under the window they had entered through. The other windows were covered in dust and dirt, making it impossible to see through them. The door was firmly shut, so the only source of light came through the broken window. By remaining under it, they remained invisible to anyone from the outside.

"Alright, get some rest," Yumi suggested to the Digimon. Labramon was out like a light, quickly followed by Palmon.

Renamon locked eyes with her partner. "If anything approaches, don't hesitate to wake me."

"Got it," Hana replied with a nod before the fox Digimon allowed herself to succumb to her exhaustion.

Kiira leaned her head back against the wall behind them. "It's been awhile since we've been able to relax for a minute like this, huh?" she commented. "I mean, we spent a lot of time in the tunnel, and then that castle, and now coming here. I just hope that whatever is hanging around here is either friendly, or that they haven't noticed us yet."

"Let's hope it's the first one," Yumi said, staring at her hands, crossed on the wrists, propped up on her knees. "I really don't want to get into another fight. I just want this to be over. I want to go home."

"So do I," Kiira admitted. "But we're here to do a job, aren't we?"

Hana looked over at the lavender haired girl. "You're a hacker, I thought you would have _loved_ being here in the internet."

"Okay, it was cool for the first few days," Yumi admitted. "But... The novelty wore off after about our second battle. I mean, we could _die_ in here, and our parents wouldn't know until the rest of us get out of here. _If_ we get out. How will they know for sure when we're done in here? How will they get us out?" She paused. "And if we die in here, our parents won't even have any bodies to bury."

This earned silence from the other two humans. They hadn't even thought of it like that.

Hana bit back the worries the hacker had just given her. She was their leader, she couldn't show weakness. She had to be strong for them. "Remember, our government picked _us_ to do this. They put their faith in us. The world is _counting_ on us."

"But why a group of teens?" Kiira asked. "I mean, they could have easily had some adults that they could have trained to do this instead of taking us."

Hana directed her attention to what the other girl said. "I don't think we should really think about that right now," she suggested. "We have more important things to worry about. We can get back to that when this is over. Maybe we can ask when we get back."

" _If_..." Yumi muttered, but the blonde chose to ignore the comment this time. She had to get them to focus on something else. All this would do is get them all depressed, and they didn't need that.

"Why don't you guys get some rest now?" she suggested. "I can keep watch, and I'll let you know if something's going on."

"You sure you'll be alright?" Kiira asked.

Hana nodded. "Yeah. Now get some sleep."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

The pain had finally subsided, allowing Miyuki to walk more comfortably. She really didn't want to keep going through this, but she had a feeling that it would be a continuing problem throughout their journey. Would it stay that way when she left, whenever and however that was? Would the medicine, because it was digital, not work anymore when she left? She could only hope.

Trying to divert her thoughts, she once again began mentally addressing the problem of the other three girls, mainly Harusawa. Yumi and Kiira seemed to like her, and she liked them, too. They were nice, and so were their partners. But the blonde seemed to hate her guts, even after she had saved their lives.

She began to pass a hole when a feeling struck her. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it did feel odd. She stopped and backed up, looking through it. As usual, the hole itself was dark, the only indication that it was even there being the break in flying binary. She would have no idea what was on the other side until she stepped through.

"I think they might be in here," she commented. She began to take a step.

DemiDevimon looked apprehensive. "Are you sure you want to go back there?"

The brunette nodded stubbornly. She would have to work to gain their trust, but as she had said both out loud and to herself many times, there was a better chance of getting this job done and surviving in a group, rather than being out on her own with DemiDevimon. Yes, he was strong, but she doubted that even if he made it to Mega Level, he wouldn't stand a chance against the Virus behind it all on his own. "What choice do I have?" she asked her Virus partner. "It's only going to get tougher from here." She gave him a look. "And no matter what you say, I know you're no match for whatever final enemy we have to face."

The Rookie had been about to argue, but once her words reached his ears, he paused. As loathe as he was to admit it, she had a point. He wasn't all-powerful. They would need help. But could they actually get help from people who continuously thought that they were the enemy?

"Alright," he finally relented. "Let's go."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

They were met with a large group of gears with eyes.

"Name: Hagurumon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Minimal."

"Alright, we can take these guys, right, DemiDevimon?" she asked.

The Rookie nodded. "Of course, I'm gonna need a little help."

"Right," Miyuki replied, opening her Digivice. The data flowing from the sphere in the center to her partner.

"DemiDevimon Digivolve to... Devidramon!"

"Cog Crusher!" the Hagurumon around them yelled, all sending gears flying up at the Champion. Devidramon simply slapped the gears away, embedding them in the ground around him, careful to avoid his partner getting hit.

"Is that the best you can do?" he growled out, raising a claw. "Crimson Claw!" the attack hit many of the Rookies, destroying some immediately while slamming others into the ground. The ones on the ground seemed to be too weak to move for the moment.

The Hagurumon that Devidramon hadn't missed attacked again. "Cog Crusher!" He managed to bat away most of the flying gears, but a few hit him in the face. One narrowly avoided one of his right eyes. He turned to glare down at the Digimon that had fired off that attack.

"Crimson—" he began.

"Grenade Destroyer!"

Devidramon stumbled as a missile hit him in the neck. He turned to see a clunky robot-like Digimon with its arms raised, already arming two more missiles. "You don't want to piss me off," he growled.

"Grande Destroyer!" he hear again, from multiple directions. Five different sets of missiles hit, one on each side of his torso, one in the back, one on the left side of his head, and a pair that hit each of his right eyes. He cried out in pain and raised a hand to cover the wound. He went to attack again, but his perspective was now skewed.

"Dammit...!" Miyuki muttered. If they didn't get help soon, they were screwed.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

The five sleeping figured jolted awake at the explosions outside. Hana was already on her feet. "We've got trouble," she told them.

"They don't sound like they're attacking this warehouse," Palmon said slowly. "So what are they doing?"

"I'm fine enough to fight now," Labramon said. "Let's go see."

The group was about to climb out the window when the door burst open. The Digimon each took battle stances while their partners took out their Digivices, ready to use them if they had to. They were not prepared, however, for the figure in the doorway.

"I need your help," she said, pleading as she leaned on the doorframe. Running and looking through the warehouses and factories, following her gut, had aggravated her back again. But that wasn't important now, she could worry about it later. What mattered right now was getting help for Devidramon and hoping he wasn't going to die while she was gone.

"Help with _what_?" Hana asked skeptically. Another large explosion shook the building, rattling the windows.

"That," Miyuki said. "We need your help."

Kiira looked at her for a moment, seeing the distress that was clear on the other girl's face. "Hana, I don't care that you don't trust her," she began. "But right now, she needs help. Honestly, I don't care if you stay here or come with us, but I'm going."

"Don't forget me," Palmon said, following her partner as she exited the building. Miyuki stepped out of the way to let her pass. She was followed by Yumi and Labramon, and eventually Hana and Renamon, though the blonde didn't seem too happy about it.

"Holy shit!" Labramon yelled, watching Devidramon try to hold off the Guardromon that had attacked him, attacking blindly on his right side.

"Is something wrong with him?" Yumi asked.

Miyuki nodded. "Yeah," she informed them. "A pair of missiles caught him in his right eyes." _The two of us just can't catch a break,_ she thought as she bit back another wave of pain. It wasn't as bad as it had been in the castle, but that didn't mean that it didn't still hurt like hell. She just hoped that as time went on, the pain would come less and less often.

"Come on, Hana, we have to help him," Kiira said, turning to her leader.

Hana seemed hesitant to respond. Renamon placed a hand on her shoulder. "We need to help them," she informed her partner. "They aren't the enemy like you think they are, and if that still bothers you, think of it as getting rid of some of the Viruses in the internet. Just avoid taking out Devidramon."

Hana looked from her partner to Miyuki. "Fine," she said. "But only because we have to take out the Guardromon anyway."

"Hey, we'll take what we can get," she said. Hana opened her Digivice, followed by Yumi and Kiira.

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

"Palmon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

"Let's get them, guys!" Seasarmon yelled, diving into battle. Togemon followed while Kyubimon headed straight for Devidramon, deciding to defend him directly. He was their target, so if she put herself in plain sight, perhaps they would realize that they had more than just the larger Champion to deal with and spread their attacks more thinly.

"Dragon Wheel!" the yellow fox yelled, ramming into the Guardromon in front of her before rolling off him and in front of Devidramon. She took notice of Togemon on his right and Seasarmon on his left. Hearing the noise, the Virus Digimon was about to swipe down at his right side again before she called out, "Relax, Devidramon! We're on your side! Let Togemon take care of your right! We've got you covered!"

The words took a moment to sink in, as his primary focus was his attacks and blocking his opponents', but once it did, he nodded and turned his full attention to his front. Once she was satisfied that he would be alright, she moved behind him, ready to take care of the Guardromon at his back.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon yelled, firing off his attack, pushing the Guardromon back.

"Needle Spray!" Togemon called out, though several of her needles landed in Devidramon's side. He growled in response. "Sorry!" she apologized. He couldn't see her at the moment, meaning he didn't know when to dodge in time. She'd have to resort to different methods. She charged the Guardromon she had just fired at. "Lightspeed Jabbing!"

"Grenade Destroyer!" the Guardromon from behind the large Virus yelled, this time aiming for Kyubimon. She managed to dodge the first, but the other was heading for Devidramon's leg.

Acting fast, she yelled, "Fox Tail Inferno!" The flames met the missile, destroying it.

"Crimson Claw!" Devidramon yelled, slashing the Champion in front of him as the Vaccines destroyed their own targets.

The four changed back into their Rookie forms and approached their respective partners.

Miyuki held DemiDevimon, who had his right eye squeezed shut. She turned to the other girls. "Thanks," she said. She looked at Hana. "I know you don't trust me, but you saved our butts today."

"I don't like owing someone..." the blonde muttered. "Now we're even."

Kiira and Yumi looked at each other. They had to speak up this time.

"Come with us," Kiira told the brunette. "This whole thing will be a _lot_ easier with all four of us together, instead of fighting each other all the time."

Hana was about to argue, but Yumi cut her off. "If you really don't trust her, think of it this way. Now you can keep an eye on her. Three against one if she does something 'suspicious', right?"

The leader thought her argument over. She hated to admit it, but they both had a point. "Fine," she finally said. "But don't think for a second that I trust you."

"Figured that out awhile ago." Miyuki gave a lopsided grin. "But thanks."

 **Next time:  
Miyuki: Oh, shit...  
Kiira: What's wrong?  
Palmon: Are you alright?  
DemiDevimon: We need to rest.  
Hana: We don't have time for that.  
Yumi: We're in trouble...**

 **Well, finished this barely on time. But, like I said, it was hard to motivate myself to start. I got into it later on, but then I had to go to work and just wrote the end since I just got home. So sorry if the ending seemed a little abrupt, I had to be sure that I could get it done in time. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll try to manage my time regarding the next one better.**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	9. More Than a Virus

**Alright, now comes episode 9~**

 _ **Miyuki:**_ _"DemiDevimon and I were on our own again and managed to find ourselves in some pretty deep shit. Luckily, I managed to find those other girls and they helped us. DemiDevimon's hurt, but not too bad. But now, for better or for worse, we're all on the same team."_

* * *

"Let's get going," Hana told the group.

Miyuki raised a brow. "I don't think so," she said. "Not yet. DemiDevimon needs some rest, in case you didn't notice." The Virus Rookie looked at the blonde, right eye still shut. It was still in pain from when it had been shot while he was Devidramon. "Maybe we could rest here for the night and get going in the morning. Does that sound good?"

"I don't know about _you_ , but we actually have families waiting for us to come home," Hana informed her, arms crossed. "So the sooner we get this thing taken care of, the sooner we can go home."

The brunette paused. Kiira had told her that the other three had been recruited by the government. That meant that their parents probably knew exactly where they were. But she hadn't even left a note for her dads. They were probably worried sick. Hana had a point, but...

"Aren't you supposed to be the logical one?" Palmon asked. "We might have had a long time to rest, but Miyuki probably hasn't."

"Yeah," Labramon agreed. "And did you just kinda miss the part where Devidramon got shot in the eyes by a pair of missiles. If it was one of us, you probably would have stopped to rest."

Yumi nodded. "What's your deal with her?"

"She doesn't trust me," Miyuki answered for her. "Isn't that right? Because I'm some sort of wildcard?" Hana's silence was enough of an answer. "Thought so." She held her partner close. "Fine. You wanna go? Let's go. But me and DemiDevimon are staying out of any fight any time soon, got it?"

"Fine," Hana muttered. "Whatever."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

They'd been walking for about ten minutes in silence when DemiDevimon was finally able to open his eye again. "You alright?" his partner asked.

"Yeah... it still hurts a little, but I'll be fine in a few minutes," the Virus replied. "Digimon heal a lot faster than humans."

"I can see that," she said with a soft smile. She turned to the other girls, unsure of what to talk about. She'd didn't really like the awkward silence that surrounded them. "So..." she eventually said. "Why'd the government pick each one of you? I mean, what makes you so different from all the others teens in Japan?"

"They wanted kid geniuses," Kiira replied. "I'm fluent in ten languages."

Miyuki's eyes widened. "Holy shit... _Ten_?" She nodded.

"Yeah," she informed her. "I've been learning since I was little. I just pick things like that up easily." She motioned to Yumi. "Yumi's some kind of super hacker."

"That sounds kind of useful to bring on a trip to the internet," the brunette commented with a grin.

Yumi blushed. "I'm not _that_ great..."

Miyuki's smile fell as she looked over at Hana, who was walking a little bit ahead of them, pointedly ignoring their conversation. She sighed, doubting they would ever get along, no matter how much effort she put into the matter. "And what about Harusawa? Why's she here?"

"She's a mathematical genius," Yumi informed her. "And math is a lot of logic, so it seemed like a good idea to make her leader."

"And math has so many variables..." Kiira commented.

"And we're variables," Miyuki guessed. "And 'undefined', probably."

"Probably," Kiira agreed.

"You said you get 'feelings' about things?" Palmon asked, remembering what the brunette had told them the last time they had encountered her. "What are those all about?"

"They're a little hard to explain," Miyuki said. DemiDevimon had taken his place back on her shoulder, as that hadn't aggravated her back injury like they had both been a bit concerned that it would. "You know how sometimes, you can just kind of feel like you're being watched? Or when you get that kind of pit in your stomach when you just know shit is gonna go to hell?" They nodded. "Okay, now imagine that kind of pit being heavier or lighter sometimes. And just kind of... knowing... if you're supposed to go in a direction, like the same way you know you're being watched." She shrugged. "That's kind of what it's like."

"Have they ever been wrong?" Labramon asked.

The girl shook her head. "Not that I can remember."

Renamon, who had been listening to their conversation, turned to her blonde partner. "I don't think she's a threat," she told her.

"You can't know that for sure," Hana replied, causing the Rookie to sigh. Once again, the human was being hopelessly stubborn. "There's something off about Otori, and I'm going to find out what."

Renamon simply turned her gaze to Miyuki, who was still talking with the others, a smile on her face, before turning back to Hana. She only hoped that she would warm up to her soon. They should be a team, if they were to be able to work together. And she just knew that the only way to defeat whatever was ahead of them required them to be able to work as a unit.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki had to stop as the others kept walking, biting her lip. She could already feel the pain returning to her back. She knew the medicine would have unexpected side effects, but she never thought it would have periods of time that it would temporarily wear off. At least some times were less painful than others. But the ache was becoming worse and worse. She couldn't keep walking. She needed to sit for a minute until the pain went away.

"Oh, shit..." she muttered. She had hoped this wouldn't be a problem again now that she had joined the other girls, but obviously, she was wrong.

Kiira was the first to notice that she had stopped. She motioned for the others to stop as well as she walked back toward the brunette. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Palmon came up behind her, also curious and a bit worried. She could see the pain that Miyuki was trying to hide on her face. "Are you alright?"

"We need to rest," DemiDevimon told them, already off of his partner's shoulder. He could clearly tell what was wrong, and they _did_ need to stop.

Hana crossed her arms. "We don't have time for that," she argued. The brunette hadn't taken any serious injuries, so whatever stomachache or something, she would just have to deal with it.

"Can't you see she's in a lot of pain?" Labramon asked, turning on her.

The leader sighed and walked over to join the others. Now that she was closer, she could clearly see the pain that the others could. "Alright," she relented. She didn't know what happened, but she could tell it was bad.

"What happened?" Renamon asked.

"It was before I met up with you guys again in that castle," Miyuki told them, sitting.

"We were in another site and a battle got really out of hand," DemiDevimon continued. "She got slammed into a wall pretty hard, and it did a lot of bad shit to her back. The Digimon there gave her some medicine, but they hadn't really used it a lot, and it was a bad injury, so... they didn't know what kind of side effects it would have."

"So, now it hurts sometimes, and it's not always the same amount of pain." She gritted her teeth as another strong wave a pain passed through. "This one it a little worse than the others."

Palmon frowned, concern clear on her face. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Wait it out," Miyuki informed them. "It always goes away in a few minutes."

Hana's eyes narrowed. Sure, she felt bad for the girl, but now that added just one more problem to their already growing list of issues. They'd probably have to stop every time something like this happened, and she wanted to get home as soon as possible. She missed her family, and she knew the others probably did, too.

A few more minutes passed before the pain subsided to a dull ache that would last for a little while. At least that was bearable. She started to stand when Kiira reached a hand down to help her up. "Thanks," she said gratefully. She suddenly looked above them. "Remember those feelings I get?"

"Yeah..." Labramon said, and he, along with everyone else, didn't really like where this was going.

"I'm having one right now, and it's pretty bad," she informed them.

Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, three large, spider-like Digimon dropped down from the coding above them.

"We're in trouble..." Yumi commented.

"At least they waited until you were better," DemiDevimon commented sarcastically.

"How sweet of them."

"Alright," Hana said, focusing on the task at hand. "Let's see what these guys are..."

"Name: Dokugumon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Medium."

Yumi shuddered. "I really hate spiders."

"Alright, DemiDevimon," Miyuki told her partner. "You know what to do." He nodded.

"DemiDevimon Digivolve to... Devidramon!"

The other Rookies looked at each other before nodding.

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

"Palmon Digivolve to... Togemon!"

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

The humans stepped back, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire of the battle that was about to ensue. "Three of them and four of us," Kiira observe. "This shouldn't be too hard."

"Don't say that," Miyuki told her. "You never, _ever_ say it shouldn't be too hard. Do you wanna jinx us?"

"It's okay, Miyuki, we got this!" her partner called over her shoulder. That was a little reassuring, considering how much larger he was than the others, including their opponents.

"Poison Thread!" all three Dokugumon yelled, aiming their attacks at the Virus, deciding to take out the largest target first.

Devidramon shut his eyes tight, not wanting to get their poison in them. That was the last thing he need, considering how his last battle went.

"Don't worry!" Togemon yelled. "You're not on your own anymore. We've got you covered." She dove forward toward one of the Dokugumon. The kids didn't exactly have anything to take cover behind in the tunnel, so her Needle Spray attack would be a very, very bad idea. "Lightspeed Jabbing!" she yelled, laying into one of the Dokugumon.

He nodded, and as soon as the Dokugumon were distracted by the other Champions, he raised his claw. "Crimson Claw!" he yelled. The movement had clued the others in to move out of the way, and he struck their opponents hard enough to send them flying.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon yelled, firing at one of the Dokugumon and sending it through the air in Kyubimon's direction. She readied her own attack.

"Dragon Wheel!" she yelled, destroying the opponent on impact and landing hard but remaining on her feet.

Togemon had her fists ready as another Dokugumon flew in her direction. She punched as it flew by, but the angle unfortunately sent it toward the wall. Instead of hitting it like they hoped it would, the Virus went straight through the coding, disappearing but not destroyed.

"Crap..." the green Champion muttered.

Hana glared. "You just let it escape. Great."

"Calm down," Miyuki said, rolling her eyes. "Devidramon?"

He looked back down at his partner. He had a feeling he knew exactly what she wanted. "You sure?"

"I wouldn't have said anything if I wasn't."

"What are you two talking about?" Yumi asked.

Hana raised a brow. "Are you seriously thinking what I think you are?"

"Probably."

"That's insane."

"Aw, worried about me?" the brunette asked. "And here I thought you didn't care." She looked at Devidramon. "Come on, let's go." Without another word, her partner picked her up, curling his hands around her body in case this went wrong and dove for the wall, right where Dokugumon had gone through. As they had hoped, instead of hitting it, they went through it, as well, disappearing from sight.

"You were right," Seasarmon agreed with Hana. "She _is_ insane." He may be a bit of a 'leap before he looks' Digimon, but not even he would attempt something like that.

Kiira looked from the wall and back to their partners. "We should probably worry about her later. She can take care of herself, right? Right now, we have our own problems to deal with."

"Right," Togemon agreed. "Lightspeed Jabbing!"

Kyubimon and Seasarmon nodded at each other. While the remaining Vaccine finished off with the Dokugumon she had been previously attacking, the would finish with the remaining one. "Fox Tail Inferno!" Kyubimon yelled from one side.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon attacked from the other. The joint attacks destroyed the already damaged Champion in an instant. Togemon had just finished with hers, as well.

"Alright," Yumi said. "Now let's get in there and save Miyuki and Devidramon."

Seasarmon nodded and darted to where they had gone through, only to bounce off the wall. "What the hell...?"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki's eyes widened as she saw countless shadows pass by them just as fast, if not faster, than the binary had in the tunnel. Her Digivice was open, but it almost seemed like it was speaking gibberish. Were these all Digimon? If they were, there were too many for the device to keep up. There was only one identifiable figure in front of them, seemingly trying to escape.

"Don't let it get away!" the brunette yelled.

Devidramon nodded. "You got it," he said, speeding up as fast as he could. Slowly but surely, they were gaining on their opponent. But something seemed... off.

Some of the shadowed figured were absorbed into Dokugumon and pulsing, dark energy came off of it in waves. Devidramon growled as he pushed through them. No matter what this thing was doing, they couldn't let it get away.

Miyuki shielded her eyes as an oddly familiar glow surrounded it. "No way..." she muttered.

When the light dimmed, a different Digimon was standing in front of them. It had an almost humanoid torso, with long, messy silver hair and red horns. Its grinning mouth was filled with sharp teeth and its arms ended in giant hands. The lower half of its body, however, belonged to a gigantic red and purple spider, each leg ending in a sharp talon. Her Digivice was still spewing nonsense.

"Devidramon, do you have any idea what this thing is?" she asked her partner.

"It's called Arukenimon," he told her. "And I think we might be in trouble."

"Why?"

"It's an Ultimate."

"Oh, shit," Miyuki muttered.

"Oh shit is right," Devidramon replied. "It'd be really nice if the others could get in here soon."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Why can't we get through?" Kiira asked, pushing on the wall to no avail.

"My guess?" Yumi asked. "It's only available to Viruses. Considering the holes open up to different sites, this is probably some sort of protected tunnel. That place, whatever it is, outside the tunnel, isn't easily accessed. They probably hacked it, so Viruses can get through just fine. Miyuki probably made it in because she was being held by Devidramon, who's a Virus."

"Great," Hana muttered. She didn't really care one way or another, but she did admit that the others had a point with their 'strength in numbers' argument. So, whether she liked it or not, they had to find some way to get her out.

"You're a hacker," Seasarmon commented to his partner. "Can't you just hack the thing, too, and get us in?"

Yumi sighed. "I wish I could, but I don't think I have that kind of power in here. Give me a keyboard and a mouse, and I could probably do it, but right now, I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Where do you think they are?" Kiira asked Yumi. The lavender haired girl was getting asked a lot of questions, but between everyone in the group, if anyone had the answers, it would be her.

"Hmm... Well, they're not in the normal part of the internet, they're sort of... hidden." She paused, eyes widened. "Holy shit..." she muttered. "I think they're in the deep web."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Okay, what do we do?" Miyuki asked, staring at their grinning opponent. "There's no way we can take this thing on our own."

"Spider Thread!" Arukenimon yelled, causing Devidramon to curl his hands around his partner to avoid her getting hurt. He winced as he was pushed back a bit.

The brunette looked around frantically, trying to think of anything they might be able to take advantage of. The only things in sight, though, were Arukenimon and the passing Viruses. Wait a minute... "I have an idea," she told him.

"I'm all ears."

"If Dokugumon could absorb all those Viruses to Digivolve, why don't you?" she asked.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he questioned.

Miyuki shook her head. "No, I'm not. But honestly, it's that or get destroyed here. I'd rather go with 'what could happen' than 'we're gonna die'."

"Alright, but how do I even do that in the first place?" the four eyed Digimon asked.

"You got me," the brunette said, shrugging.

"Spider Thread!" Arukenimon yelled. Devidramon once again protected his partner, trying to ignore the pain from her attacks. Obviously, they were really strong, and they had to find some way to get to Arukenimon's level.

The Champion looked around at all the shadows and concentrated. Very slowly, one of the shadows veered off the normal path and moved toward him, seeping into his back. He growled, and another flew into his shoulder while yet another swept right over Miyuki and into her partner's chest. A familiar pit began forming in the human's stomach.

"Okay, that was a bad idea," she whispered as her partner growled louder. "A _very_ bad idea!"

He managed to keep a hold on her as he raised his other claw, swiping down at Arukenimon. The attack, surprisingly, sliced the Ultimate right in half before her data flew toward Miyuki's still open Digivice. Her partner, however, hadn't calmed down.

"Devidramon, stop," she told him, hoping she could get through whatever had a hold on him. They'd already been through this once. They could do it again. "You're stronger than those other Viruses. Don't let them control you. You're not evil, so don't let them make you act like it." Nothing worked. Another shadow started moving toward them. If she didn't act fast, she'd probably lose her partner for good.

She jumped out of Devidramon's hand, being pushed along by the Viruses around her. Now that she was closer, she could make out vague shapes. But that wasn't what mattered. She had to use these things to find a way out. She just hoped that there was enough of her partner left to get him to follow her.

She was right. As she flew forward, so did Devidramon, gaining quickly. She looked around. She needed a way back into the tunnel.

Miyuki's head snapped to the left. Her gut told her that there would be an opening coming up soon, and she knew from experience that the gut feeling was probably right. She moved to the left as best as she could, hoping to make it before her partner caught up. This wouldn't really work out that well if he caught her before she made it.

The next thing she knew, she was falling. Landing hard on her butt, she looked up to see Devidramon falling as well, but when he was halfway down, he reverted back to DemiDevimon. He landed in her lap, unconscious.

"Well..." she muttered with a sigh. "That was something I never want to do again." Slowly standing, making sure that there were no severe injuries, she looked around. The others were nowhere in sight. Not that she expected them to be there, since they had traveled quite far. "Time to start looking," she groaned, beginning off in the direction she had been coming from.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

After another five minutes, Hana said, "I don't think she's coming back. Not this way, anyway. We need to keep moving."

"And if she comes out later?" Kiira asked.

Renamon stepped in, hoping to act as a mediator to prevent an argument. "If she comes back to the tunnel from here later, we're bound to find each other again. We do have a habit of doing that."

"Alright, okay," Kiira said.

"I just hope she's okay in there..." Yumi said softly.

 **Next time:  
Kiira: Good to see you again! What happened in there?  
Miyuki: I don't want to talk about it...  
Leomon: You shouldn't be here.  
Miyuki: What?  
Leomon: I know about what happened with the Viruses. It's only a matter of time before he succumbs to his true nature.  
DemiDevimon: Hey!**

 **Whoa boy... The deep web thing caught me off guard. And I did not mean to explore an idea that DemiDevimon might be having issues. This just got thrown at me by my own mind. So I can honestly tell you: with a few exceptions much later in the series, I have** _ **no**_ **idea what the hell is going to happen. I'm probably just as clueless as you are.**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	10. Judgment of a Lion

**And now, here we are with episode 10. Yet another really late in the day update... *sigh* Anyway, let's get started~**

 _ **Miyuki:**_ _"We were all walking in the tunnel when some Dokugumon came down on us. Our partners were fighting them but when one got knocked into the wall, it went through. Devidramon and I followed it, and the place was full of Viruses. The Dokugumon we were following Digivolved into Arukenimon, so we were in a bit of trouble. I made the stupid suggestion to Devidramon about absorbing some of the Viruses around us. It didn't go well... But, now that we're back out in the tunnel, hopefully things will be getting back to normal. Of course, now we're separated from the others. Again."_

* * *

"Dammit..." Miyuki muttered. DemiDevimon was still out cold from when he fell out after her, but hopefully he'd be back to normal when he woke up. She just wished that bad feeling had come a few moments sooner, but she was also glad that it didn't come any later. But of course, now she had to find the others...

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Okay, we've waited here long enough," Hana said, arms crossed. They'd waited for Miyuki and Devidramon to come out again for about an hour, but it didn't look like they were coming.

"They probably came out somewhere else in the tunnel," Renamon suggested. "It would take hours to try to find her at this rate. I suggest we keep moving for now. We do seem to have a habit of running into each other."

Kiira sighed before turning from the wall. She, Palmon, Yumi, and Labramon had been watching the flowing binary, hoping they'd catch sight of the other two, to no avail. "You're right," she said. "We'll find them again... Sometime..."

"I'm sure they're fine," Palmon said, trying to comfort her partner. "They've been able to take care of themselves without us for awhile now."

"Yeah, and it got Miyuki a severe back injury..."

"Kiira..." Yumi said, putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "We just have to trust them. I'm worried, too, but that's not going to do them any good, right?"

Kiira sighed. "You're right."

"Well, now that that's settled," Hana began. "Let's get going. There's bound to be another site that needs us." With that, she started walking, quickly followed by the others.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

It took about twenty minutes before a hole opened in the tunnel. "What do you think?" Kiira asked.

"Let's go," Hana replied, stepping in. The others followed.

The group found themselves near the edge of a jungle. Peering through the few trees behind them, they could see a steep cliff and a large expanse of water.

"This is a beautiful view..." Palmon whispered. "It kind of reminds me of where I used to live before we were brought here, but the cliff wasn't as tall or steep." She gave a sad smile. "I miss it."

"I bet you do..." Kiira said softly, reminded of how much she missed her own home.

Hana sighed, noticing the depressing direction the conversation was headed. She needed to get them to focus on something else. "Well, let's see what's going on here, alright?" the blonde asked.

"You're right," Kiira replied. "The faster this is done, the faster we can get home."

It only took a few minutes of walking before they saw some small, pink and green plant Digimon.

"Name: Lalamon. Classification: Data. Threat: Minimal."

"They look fine," Labramon began. "So if there's some kind of virus headed this way, it's not here yet."

"That's a relief," his partner commented. "It gives us a little time to get the lay of the land so we know what we might be up against."

One of the Lalamon looked up at the sound of their voices. "Hello!" she said. "Are you Digi-Destined?"

"We're... still not sure on that," Hana said truthfully. They had been told that Digi-Destined were picked by a 'higher power' or something, and they were just handpicked by their government, so they didn't know if that counted. "But we _are_ here to help. Did you see anything that could be considered dangerous?"

"No," another Lalamon told her. "But we _did_ see another human a little while ago, holding a DemiDevimon."

"Oh, thank god she's okay," Kiira said with a smile. "Do you know which way she went?"

"She was headed further in," the Rookie replied, pointing. "Are you friends with her?"

Renamon looked at her partner, who was about to argue. "Something like that," the yellow fox informed them. She then addressed Hana. "I think we should go find her."

"Fine," Hana muttered, crossing her arms. "Let's go."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki heard a small groan and looked down to see DemiDevimon finally coming to. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Like shit," he informed her. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" the brunette asked with a frown.

"Nuh-uh. Last thing I remember, Dokugumon Digivolved to Arukenimon and you told me to try absorbing some of the shadows. It's a total blank after that." He looked up, seeing her frown. "What did I do?"

Miyuki sighed. "You remember how you kinda went nuts when I got slammed into the wall?" He nodded. "It was kind of like that, but a little worse. The only way I managed to get you out of it was by getting us out of there."

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" the Rookie asked, disturbed. He felt a huge wave of relief when she shook her head.

"No," she said. "I'm fine. I was a little worried about you for awhile, though. You passed out when we got out of the tunnels and that was probably about twenty minutes ago." She looked around at the trees and vines hanging down. "I managed to find another site, but it looks like nothing hostile is here... yet."

"Where's everyone else?"

Miyuki frowned again. "We got pulled pretty far down that tunnel. I guess they couldn't follow us for some reason so we got separated. I just hope they'll find this place pretty soon, too."

"Yeah, me too," the Virus Rookie replied. Almost as if on cue, they saw the other three girls and their partners emerge from the trees.

"Hey," the brunette said with a small smile.

Kiira returned the smile. "Good to see you again!" she said. "What happened in there?"

Miyuki's face fell. "I don't want to talk about it..." she said softly. The last thing she needed was for Hana to have yet another reason to not trust her. "Anyway, I'm glad you guys are here."

"Have you seen anything suspicious?" the blonde in question asked, getting straight to the point. Miyuki shook her head.

"Got any of those feelings?" Labramon asked.

The brunette was about to say no when a knot began forming in her lower stomach. "Okay, yeah, a little bit."

"About what?" the dog-like Rookie asked.

"I can't really tell the specifics. I can know 'something bad will happen', but not what that something bad is," Miyuki informed him. "And something... kinda bad is gonna happen soon."

Hana was about to speak when an orange burst of energy in the shape of a lion's head flew past them. "What the...?" The group turned as a tall figure stepped out of the woods.

He looked like a bipedal lion with strong muscles and piercing cobalt blue eyes.

"Name: Leomon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: Medium."

"You shouldn't be here," he said in a deep, commanding tone. His eyes were focused on Miyuki and DemiDevimon.

"What?" the brunette asked, a bit startled. She knew that some of the Digimon here weren't too fond of her due to the fact that she was partnered with a Virus Digimon, but the fact that she was here with the others ones that were actually pretty respected should have been some indication that she wasn't really all that bad.

"I know what happened with the Viruses," he said. "It's only a matter of time before he succumbs to his true nature."

"Hey!" the Rookie said indignantly.

Miyuki's eyes widened. How did he know about what happened before...? He shouldn't be able to... "How did you know about that...?" she asked hesitantly.

"What's he talking about?" Hana asked with a raised brow.

The brunette sighed. "When we went in that place past the tunnel... Well... there were a bunch of Viruses everywhere, and Dokugumon absorbed a few of them and Digivolved. It was an Ultimate and Devidramon was only a Champion, so I though, you know... Maybe Devidramon could do the same but it... it didn't really go well. He... lost control a little."

The blonde's eyes narrowed. "I knew it would be a bad idea to let you join us."

Miyuki ignored her for the moment and turned back to Leomon. "I'm gonna ask again, how did you know about that?"

"Word travels fast," he informed her plainly. He drew the sword from its scabbard at his back.

Renamon stepped between the two, as did Palmon and Labramon. "Stop," she said. "That was the result of a mistake, one that I'm sure won't be made again. Devidramon's loss of control probably came from the evil intent from the Viruses he absorbed."

"And I'm never doing that again," DemiDevimon confirmed.

Leomon was about to reply when they all felt a dark wave pass through them. Yumi looked to Miyuki. "Are you having one of your feelings now?"

"Oh, yeah," Miyuki replied. "Big time."

At her words, three humanoid plant Digimon emerged from the trees, heading in their direction. Their arms, legs, and the large petals on their backs were dark purple, tipped with black. The flower petals covering their heads matched. Their torsos, which may have once been green due to the leafy design, were now a faded brown, their hair was silver and their eyes were bright red.

"Name: Lilamon. Classification: Data. Threat: High."

"Great," Hana muttered. "Ultimates. Three of them. Wonderful." She looked to their partners. "You guys know what to do."

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

"Palmon Digivolve to... Togemon!"

The group looked to DemiDevimon when he didn't Digivolve with them. He shook his head. "No way," he said. "I don't wanna lost control again." His voice grew quieter. "I'm not really sure if all those other Viruses left my system yet..."

Leomon looked down at the Rookie for a moment. He had been almost sure that he would have jumped at the chance to Digivolve with the risk. Perhaps he was wrong, if the Virus was hesitant to become like the other ones. With the support from these other humans and their partners, perhaps he wouldn't go down the wrong path, after all. He looked back at the virus-controlled Lilamon. He would worry about DemiDevimon's fate later. Right now, he would protect the humans. Regardless of what happened to her partner, the brown haired girl shouldn't be left at the mercy of Digimon that wouldn't hesitate to end her.

"Fist of the Beast King!" he yelled, thrusting a fist forward, letting out the same energy that had been shot at the humans and their partners before.

The Lilamon scattered, avoiding the attack. One spun, pulling on arm to the side before thrusting it out, throwing a blade of dark energy. "Lilac Dagger!"

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon yelled, aiming the attack at the dagger, knocking it off course and embedding in a tree.

Another Lilamon turned on him. "Marvel Shot!" she yelled, thrusting both arms out while balls of energy shot out, straight toward him. He managed to dodge one but was hit with the other. He winced upon impact.

Togemon dove at the one that had attacked her friend. "You give plant Digimon a bad name!" she yelled, latching on and pulling her to the ground. Propped up on the Ultimate's back, she yelled, "Light Speed Jabbing!" She got in about five hits before Lilamon managed to knock her off.

"Marvel shot!" One of the attacks hit Togemon head on, making her stumble, while the other was aimed at Kyubimon, who was taking on the third of the virus-Data Digimon.

Kyubimon hissed in pain as she was pushed off course, the fire of her Dragon Wheel going on. She landed on her side.

"Kyubimon!" Hana yelled, concerned for her partner.

The Champion stood slowly, looking a bit unsteady. "I'll be fine," she told the girl.

"Fist of the Beast King!" Leomon yelled again, firing his attack at the Lilamon closest to Kyubimon, giving her a few extra moments to recover.

"Thanks," she said, and he nodded in acknowledgement. "Fox Tail Inferno!" she yelled, sending the fireballs toward the same Ultimate.

Hana watched the battle, trying to decide on the best plan of attack. "Guys!" she called out. "Since they're stronger than you, try all focusing on one at a time. Only retaliate if one of the others starts to attack!"

"Got it!" their partners yelled. They all focused on the one Kyubimon and Leomon had attacked, since it would be the easiest to take out. Leomon stood with his back to them, ready to attack if either of the other two Lilamon made a move.

"Needle Spray!" Togemon yelled, causing the humans and all other Champions to duck. The needles embedded in all three Ultimates.

Seasarmon took advantage of the moment their target was taking to recover. "Sun's Courage!" he yelled, sending it flying into one of the trees. The virus slowly fell away from her, flowing toward Yumi's open Digivice.

"One down," Togemon commented. "Two to go."

"Dragon Wheel!" Kyubimon attacked, aiming for the second Lilamon. Her attack hit the Ultimate in the chest, and once Kyubimon was clear, Leomon fired off his own attack.

"Fist of the Beast King!" he yelled. She managed to dodge this move before spreading her arms, aiming one at Seasarmon and the other at Togemon.

"Marvel Shot!"

Both Champions were sent back into the trees behind them. Kyubimon looked from them back to the Ultimate. "Fox Tail Inferno!" she yelled, putting as much force behind her attack as she could. The Lilamon's virus fell away and she fell to the ground, unconscious like the first one had been.

"You are strong," Leomon commented to the fox Digimon.

"Thanks," she replied. "You're not bad, yourself."

Before anyone else could say anything, they heard, "Lilac Dagger!" No one was able to react when it hit Leomon straight in the back.

"No!" Hana yelled. Granted, they had only just met Leomon, but he was clearly a force to be reckoned with and would have made a great ally. He had also stopped to listen to DemiDevimon and Miyuki instead of immediately destroying them like many other Digimon would probably do.

Kyubimon turned to the remaining Ultimate, furious now. "Kyubimon Digivolve to... Taomon!"

"Name: Kyubimon. Classification: Data. Threat: None."

"You will pay for what you have done," the new Ultimate told her enemy. She raised one of her arms, seeming to draw a symbol in the air. "Talisman of Light!"

The attack hit Lilamon, but she wasn't down for the count yet. "Lilac Dagger!"

Taomon was able to easily dodge out of the way. She had already been fast as Renamon, and it seemed that as she Digivolved, she just got faster. "Leomon was a noble Digimon. He was only trying to help us, and we are only trying to free _you_." Her eyes narrowed. "Talisman of Light!" The attack hit her in the chest, destroying the virus that held her.

Taomon sighed sadly, returning to her Rookie form. "We should find the others," she said, referring to Seasarmon and Togemon who hadn't returned from where they had been thrown into the trees.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

The group sat in a small clearing in silence. The Lilamon had already come to and apologized before leaving. The one that had killed Leomon had looked as guilty as she should have as she went. No one had said anything to her.

Miyuki finally broke the silence, looking at Hana. "So, you gonna blame us for this, too?" she asked.

"I could," the blonde said before sighing. "But I guess that wouldn't be right. This one isn't on you."

"Damn right it's not," the brunette replied, wrapping her arms around her knees that she had pulled up, resting her chin on her knees.

"So, what now?" Yumi asked. "I mean, there's a good chance that something like this could happen again, and I'm not really sure I'm okay with that."

Kiira stared at the ground. "It didn't really, _really_ hit me until right now. I mean, I knew there was a chance we might die here, but... I don't know... I guess that just made it real..."

"We'll just have to try even harder than we are now," Palmon told her partner.

"We're gonna be just fine," Labramon said, but it wasn't clear if he believed it, himself. He was just saying it because it was something they all needed to hear.

Hana looked to the sky, determination burning in her eyes. She wouldn't let any of them die. She glanced down at Miyuki, who was still lost in her own little world. Even her. She was their leader, she wasn't going to be responsible for losing any of them. Leomon wasn't her fault, but if the other girls on their partners died... that would be on her.

As she wasn't sure if she could deal with that.

 **Next time:  
Hana: Are we... **_**underwater**_ **?  
Kiira: How are we able to breathe down here?  
Miyuki: You really wanna think about that? How about we just be grateful we aren't drowning?  
Divermon: You're them, aren't you? We need your help.**

 **Welp, there you are, episode 10. I'm not really a fan of the way this one came out, especially how short it is, but meh, whatever.**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	11. Under the Surface

**First and foremost, I would like to thank Linkmaste for the cover she drew for this story. It's amazing, and it's kind of sad that you can't really see the details here. You** _ **can**_ **, however, check out the full thing on her deviantArt page. (Also, please ignore the fact that I wrote Kyubimon instead of Taomon in the Digivice's analysis of her last time. I type faster than I think sometimes, so I screw up, and often don't notice, even when rereading it, until it's posted. Anyone who's read Digimon Academy and Digimon Academy 02: Return of the Demon Lords should remember the pillow remote incident)**

 **Anyway, here comes episode 11~**

 _ **Renamon:**_ _"We managed to meet up with Miyuki again, but one of the Digimon we encountered, Leomon, attacked her, thinking DemiDevimon was a threat. As soon as we managed to convince him that he was wrong, however, we were attacked by some virus-infected Digimon. Leomon was destroyed, but I Digivolved to Taomon to finish the battle."_

* * *

 _"It's only a matter of time before he succumbs to his true nature."_

Leomon's words were still ringing in Miyuki's ears as she and the others reentered the tunnel. She knew he was wrong. Yes, DemiDevimon sometimes lost control for a moment as Devidramon, but she had always been able to pull him out of it. If he was becoming like the rest of the Viruses, he would have killed her long ago.

DemiDevimon looked at his partner, having a pretty good idea of what she was thinking about. Honestly, he was thinking about it, too. He had been losing control more and more often lately, and that terrified him. What if he went too far one day? What if he hurt someone? What if he hurt _her_? He'd never forgive himself... He didn't know if he could bring himself to Digivolve again, even though he knew he'd need to. He just hoped that when he reached his Ultimate form, whatever it may be, he would have more control over himself.

Hana looked back at the brunette and her Virus partner. She'd already been pretty sure that they were bad news in one way or another, and Leomon's words only backed that theory up. The others kept calling her stubborn, but she felt she was just being practical. How were they supposed to believe that some weird, cloaked figure or whatever showed up in her room and brought her in? It just didn't make any sense. She and the others had been sent in the internet by a device built by the government to do so. It was science. She wasn't sure how they did it, but it was a reasonable explanation, not some weird 'magic' or whatever. It just didn't make sense, but for some reason, the others were just taking it at face value, and it was driving her insane. What was worse was that she knew even her own partner agreed with them.

She sighed. There was a small part of her that hoped she was wrong, because if the other girl _was_ trouble, it would just be bad for them. Not only would they have the regular Viruses to face, but a girl who knew how they fought by now. She would know their strengths and their weaknesses. If she turned out to be an enemy, it would be a huge problem later on.

Hana was pulled out of her thoughts when Labramon spoke. "I know we're probably all thinking about Leomon," he began. "And I know it makes sense, considering what he said, and then what he did for us, but... we have bigger things to worry about right now." He paused. "When this is all over with, then maybe we can do something nice, you know, to remember him by, but don't we need to focus on what's ahead of us?"

"That... was surprisingly insightful..." Yumi said, a bit stunned that her typically act first, think later partner could realize that.

"You're right," Hana told the Rookie. "Come on. There's a way to another site."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Miyuki asked, pushing any worries to the back of her mind for the moment. "Let's go."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

A large figure, shrouded in shadows, smirked as he saw them in the distance. The humans had entered _his_ domain. They were his prey now.

They wouldn't get far.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Are we... _underwater_?" Hana asked, stunned to find herself suspended in water. The others looked just as stunned as she did.

"How are we able to breathe down here?" Kiira asked.

Miyuki looked at her. "You really wanna think about that?" she asked. "How about we just be grateful we aren't drowning?"

"As curious as I'm sure we _all_ are," Palmon began, "Miyuki's right. The only really important thing is that we can breathe without any trouble. We can worry about the details later."

A figure began swimming toward them, slowly appearing in the distance. The girls pulled out their Digivices while their partners did their best to take defensive stances while floating in the water.

The creature in front of them was blue with what appeared to be a dive tank on its back.

"Name: Divermon. Classification: Data. Threat: High."

"Wait!" the Ultimate in front of them said, holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture. "I'm not going to hurt you." He paused, studying them. "You're them, aren't you?" he asked. "We need your help."

"Them?" Yumi asked. "You mean, Digi-Destined?" They had been hearing that term a lot, even though so far, Miyuki seemed to be the only one to fit those requirements.

Divermon nodded. "Please, you have to help us."

"What's the problem?" Hana asked.

He sighed. "Our protector is gone, and the Digimon are slowly become corrupted."

"Wait, what?"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Divermon led them down, and to their surprise, there was no problem regarding water pressure. Somehow, they were perfectly fine. Perhaps it was the same reason they could breathe underwater, whatever that reason was. They ended up in what looked like a city made of coral structures, though many were in ruins. Divermone brought them into the largest one still in one piece. Inside were a larger group of Divermon, along with Digimon that looked like large blue crabs.

"Name: Crabmon. Classification: Data. Threat: Minimal."

"Okay, so what's this about your protector being gone?" Hana asked.

A Divermon that looked a bit older than the others spoke up. "We were once protected by a Digimon named Whamon. Our home was always peaceful. However... a Virus appeared one day and destroyed him. Almost every day, it returns and destroys another part of the city and takes one of our own, twisting them into one of its minions. At this rate, we'll lose both our home and our lives as we know them." He looked the blonde straight in the eye. "However, with you here, there is a good chance that we may defeat him and take our domain back."

Another Divermon looked to the Crabmon. "So many of the young ones have lost their families, either to the Virus or the battles that used to ensue when he came."

"Used to?" Palmon asked. "What happened?"

The older Divermon spoke again. "Too many lost their lives in the battles. Eventually, we simply hid, hoping we could escape him, but it never worked. It is a horrible feeling, seeing a friend or family member dragged away, but being too afraid to try to save them." He closed his eyes. "I hope you can help us."

"We'll do everything we can," Kiira assured him.

"Where does this Virus hide out?" Hana asked.

"He resides in a cave to far east," one of the Crabmon told her.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"These poor Digimon," Miyuki said softly. "It has to be horrible, what they're going through."

DemiDevimon nodded. "Yeah. Losing their protector... They're practically defenseless here." He frowned. "Who's to say that nothing else will show up in this thing's place when we get rid of it?"

"We can't know that," Yumi said. "But we have to try. And if we can get these Digimon back their families..."

"Right," Labramon said with a nod. "Let's go."

"I just hope it won't be too difficult, trying to battle in the water," Renamon said. "This Virus is going to have the home field advantage."

"We just have to adapt," Hana told her partner. "We can do this. We _have_ to."

Before anyone could say anything else, multiple figures approached them quickly. They looked like fossilized fish, but they were dark red in color, with glowing red eyes. These were no doubt some of the Digimon infected by a virus.

"Fossil Bite!" they yelled, biting down on the Rookies, who tried to shake them off, wincing in pain. Renamon, Palmon, and Labramon were able to dislodge their opponents quickly, but DemiDevimon was too small to effectively throw off the Digimon clamped down on his legs.

"Diamond Storm!" Renamon yelled, slightly damaging it and weakening its grip.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon attacked, wrapping her vines around it, pulling it off. She managed to get it off DemiDevimon, but in the process, she was sent sideways a bit, having no ground to brace herself on.

DemiDevimon shook himself for a moment. "Thanks, guys!" he said.

"Any time!" Palmon replied.

"Name: Coelamon. Classification: Data. Threat: Medium."

"Alright, let's even the playing field a little, huh?" Miyuki asked. _It's alright, DemiDevimon_ , she thought when she saw her partner's nervous look. _You'll be fine._

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

"Palmon Digivolve to... Togemon!"

"DemiDevimon Digivolve to... Devidramon!"

"Are you sure that was a smart idea?" Kiira asked Miyuki, knowing the girl and her partner were still a little nervous about Digivolving.

She shrugged. "I think so. Nothing's telling me it was a bad idea, anyway."

The other girl nodded. She had learned by now that they could all trust Miyuki's instincts.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon called out, firing at a group of Coelamon, knocking them backward.

"Needle Spray!" Togemon yelled, everyone swimming out of the way. Unfortunately, the attack couldn't do as much damage as it would on dry land, and the water began to slow the needles down.

Kyubimon had a feeling her attacks, being fire-based, wouldn't work underwater, but she had to try. "Fox Tail Inferno!" she called out, though as expected, the flames died almost immediately.

"Well, this is working just about as well as we expected," Miyuki muttered. "Devidramon?"

"On it," he replied, raising one of his arms. "Crimson Claw!" he yelled, bringing it down on his opponents.

Kyubimon looked back at her partner. "Hana," she began, "I'm useless right now in this form. I need to Digivolve."

The blonde nodded, opening her Digivice. The data flowed toward her partner.

"Kyubimon Digivolve to... Taomon!"

"Alright, that will probably help," Seasarmon commented as the Ultimate raised her giant calligraphy brush.

"Talisman of Light!" she called out, purging the Champions of the viruses that had infected them.

One blinked before looking up at them. "Did you... save us?"

Hana nodded. "Yeah," she replied. "You're free now. You can go home to your families."

"And you don't need to worry about this Virus coming after you ever again, either," Miyuki added. "We're getting rid of this son of a bitch."

After watching the Coelamon make their way back, the group continued on their way.

"What do you think we're in for?" Yumi asked.

"Something strong enough to take down a Digimon like Whamon, we know that much," Seasarmon replied. "And Whamon's a pretty big Ultimate."

Kiira looked to Miyuki. "Anything?" she asked, everyone knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"Yeah," she said with a nod and a grim expression. "And it's bad."

Almost as if on cue, the cave came into view and a Digimon was emerging from it. They couldn't see any details yet, but they could tell it was even bigger than Devidramon.

"Oh, no," Togemon said. "Miyuki isn't the only one with a bad feeling here."

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little humans meddling where they don't belong," the Digimon said. It came into view, revealing a blue creature with two large tentacle-like appendages coming from its back. It bore a slight resemblance to the Devimon they had fought a while back.

"Name: MarineDevimon. Classification: Virus. Threat: High."

"Yep, that looks strong enough to take out Whamon," Seasarmon muttered.

Devidramon was the first to act. "Crimson Claw!" he yelled, only to be batted away by one of the tentacles. He hit the ocean floor, sliding across the sand but digging a claw in to slow down.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon yelled, aiming for MarineDevimon's head. The Ultimate simply moved its head to the side, dodging the attack with ease. He slapped the Champion away with his other tentacle.

"Talisman of Light!" Taomon called out.

MarineDevimon opened his mouth. "Dark Deluge!" he attacked, an inky substance shooting out of his mouth and hitting Taomon, sending her flying backwards. She looked up at him, looking a bit weakened but refusing to back down.

"Thousand Spells!" she yelled, causing many talismans to form around her opponent, causing them to explode. Marine Devimon growled, damaged but not weakened in the slightest.

The Ultimate just barely caught the movement behind him when he heard, "Crimson Claw!" He was forced to take a step to avoid losing his balance before turning on the Virus Champion.

"Dark Deluge!" he attacked, but Seasarmon was by his side in an instant, trying to pull him out of the way, despite their immense size difference. Both took a hit, but it wasn't as bad as the direct hit that would have gotten Devidramon if Seasarmon hadn't acted as quickly as he did.

"Talisman of—" But before Taomon could finish, she was knocked to the side by one of the tentacles, pushed into the ground by one of his hands.

"You all think you're special, that you're going to 'save the internet'." He laughed. "What a joke. You're all just children."

"Hey, let go of her!" Togemon yelled, charging him. He hit her away, but hissed in pain as some of her needles embedded themselves in his hand.

 _I have to do something..._ the cactus Digimon thought, looking from the other Champions who were too weak to fight, to the Ultimate being pushed into the ground. She glared up at MarineDevimon. She would take him down if it was the last thing she did...

"Togemon Digivolve to... Lillymon!"

In the cactus Champion's place stood a humanoid figure with a flower on her head and wings made out of leaves.

"Wow..." Kiira whispered, watching as her partner took off from the ocean floor, using her small size and wings to swim easily through the water.

"Name: Lillymon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None."

Lillymon narrowed her eyes at MarineDevimon. "Hey," she told him. "She was weakened in battle. Why don't you pick on someone who can put up a fight?" _Sorry, Taomon,_ she thought, hoping her friend wouldn't take it personally.

Marine Devimon thought for a moment, looking down at the Digimon he had subdued. As much as he'd like to finish her off right now, he needed to take out this other nuisance. It wasn't like Taomon was getting up soon, anyway. He tossed her to the side, looking up at his new opponent.

"Good," Lillymon said with a smile. "Let's see how you like this!" She brought her hands together, arms pointed out. "Flower Cannon!" she yelled, pushed back by the recoil of her attack, but using the momentum to swim away from the tentacle that had shot out while she fired her attack. It hit MarineDevimon in the face, causing him to pause, a bit stunned for the moment. "I don't know what your problem is with our human friends, but trust me, whatever you want, you're not going to get it."

The Virus laughed. "I'm not the one that wants you gone this badly," he said. "Yes, it's true that this battle is fun..." He shot out a tentacle, which Lillymon dodged once again. "I'm working under someone else's orders."

"Who?" Hana asked. "Who are you working for?"

MarineDevimon laughed again, looking at the four humans. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know? You'd be surprised what kind of havoc a single creature can cause."

Lillymon had paused in her attack as her friends tried to get information out of her target, but once it was clear that he was done speaking, she swam in circles above him, dodging from side to side as he tried to swipe at her. She slowly got lower and lower, eventually circling his neck. "Flower Wreath!" she yelled as a circle of flowers appeared on the Viruses neck. His eyes widened as he froze. "Sorry, buddy," she said with a shrug. "But those tentacles of yours were getting pretty annoying. Flower Cannon!"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

The group returned to the coral town where the Digimon living there waited for them.

"Thank you so much for saving us," one of the Coelamon said.

"We are very grateful to you for bringing our families back together," one of the Divermon spoke up.

One of the Crabmon looked a little hesitant. "But... how do we know that nothing else will come by and do the same thing?" he asked. "We don't have a protector anymore..."

Miyuki looked at the group, eyes landing on the older Divermon from earlier. "You're the leader of this town, right?" He nodded. "I have an idea." She turned to the other girls. "Open your Digivices."

"What?" Hana asked with a raised brow.

"Just do it," the brunette said, opening hers. She knew the viruses that the devices had absorbed would be purified into regular data. If she was right...

The data flowed toward the older Divermon, surrounding him in a bright light. When it was gone, a scaled, merman-like Digimon with a trident stood in his place.

"Name: Neptunemon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: Extreme."

Miyuki smiled at the newly Digivolved Mega. "Looks like this place has a new protector."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"How did you know that would work?" Kiira asked as they exited back into the tunnel.

"Let me guess," Hana said sarcastically. "One of those feelings of yours?"

Miyuki glared. "Okay, one, yes, and two, are you seriously still doubting me after _all_ of the ones that saved our asses?"

Hana crossed her arms. "Whatever..." she muttered. She didn't doubt that one of these days, Miyuki was going to try leading them all into trouble.

Labramon looked up to see a troubled expression on his partner's face. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I was just thinking..." Yumi said. "What did MarineDevimon mean, the havoc a 'single creature' can cause? Is there... is there only one thing behind all of this? And if it is... it has to be strong enough to screw with _everything_ , and I don't know if we can take it on. I don't know if we'll ever be strong enough. And where did this thing even come from, anyway? Something that strong doesn't just appear."

"You have a point..." Kiira said.

"Whatever's out there ahead of us," Hana stated, "it can't be good."

 **Next time:  
DemiDevimon: You know, I'm not sure she'll ever trust us.  
Miyuki: I know. No matter what I do, she just won't get it through her thick head.  
Kiira: Just give her time.  
Miyuki: She's had time.  
DemiDevimon: You know what we have to do now, right?  
Miyuki: Yeah.**

 **Well, there you have it. I actually kinda like the way this one came out. We're now learning a little bit about the mysterious main enemy. I had someone ask me about plot progression, and I wasn't sure how to hint at the main enemy without giving it all away. See, all of them need to make it to Ultimate and then maybe have another few episodes after that before I can do my big reveal that I have had planned basically since the beginning.**

 **Anyway, I think that's all I have to say, so that's it for this time.**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	12. Out of Sync

**Okay, so there are a few things I would like to let everyone know that you may not.**

 **1) I write the entire beginning note before the rest of the story, so I may not know up here what happens down there.**

 **2) I don't write the entire chapter at once (or I try not to, at least). I don't know if anyone does or doesn't do this, but that's the way I do.**

 **The point of that last part is: at the beginning here, I'm in a bit of a bad mood, so I can't guarantee the content of the story, and I may be in a better mood when I continue. Um... anyway, let's just move on.**

 _ **Palmon:**_ _"This time we ended up in an underwater city where the protector, Whamon, had been destroyed. Thanks to that, a lot of the Digimon living there kept getting captured and infected by viruses. We stopped them and got rid of the Virus responsible, and I Digivolved to Lillymon. The Digimon were afraid of being vulnerable since they didn't have a protector anymore, but Miyuki had the idea for the girls to use data in their Digivolve to help the elder of the city Digivolve to Neptunemon. Now they have a new protector, but we have no idea where we're going next."_

* * *

Miyuki stuck her hands in her pockets, staring up at the binary flying by above them, DemiDevimon perched on her shoulder.

"So, what do you think is up next?" Labramon asked.

"Who knows?" his partner said. "We can't really tell what's beyond the holes until we go through them." She looked down the tunnel, seeing a familiar ripple. "Looks like we found one."

"Let's get going, then," Hana said, leading the way through.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

The group found themselves in a desert, but there seemed to be no oasis in sight this time.

"I hope this doesn't take too long," Kiira commented. "I don't know about you, but I _really_ don't want to dry up here."

Palmon nodded. "Definitely."

"Says the plant," DemiDevimon joked, resulting in the other Rookie sticking her tongue out at him.

"In all seriousness, though," Renamon stated, "We need to be on our guard. You never know when something may strike."

"Yeah," Hana said. "Of course, we do have the advantage that nothing can sneak up on us." She gestured to the open plane of sand around them. "We'll see them coming a mile away."

Miyuki shrugged. "Yeah, unless they come out from under us."

The blonde glared. She didn't know what she disliked more, being interrupted by the brunette or knowing the other girl was right. "Yeah," she agreed begrudgingly. "Unless they come out from under us."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Yumi said, earning nods from the others. "So, do we just walk until we find something, or what?"

"Yeah," Labramon said. "I mean, usually we find something practically waiting for us, but this time, nothing. What if there's nothing here and we're just wasting time?"

Hana sighed, realizing that the Rookie and his partner brought up a good point. "Alright, how about this. We walk around for a few hours, and if nothing comes up, we can leave."

Miyuki glanced over her shoulder. "We may have a problem with that," she commented.

"What now?" the blonde asked, crossing her arms.

The black-clad teen pointed. "Hole's gone."

"What the hell?" DemiDevimon asked, staring at the empty space where their entrance had been.

Yumi thought for a moment, pushing up her glasses. "Well, I think that might mean there's a Virus in here waiting for us." At the questioning looks they gave her, she elaborated. "We've never noticed before, since we never turned to look back as soon as we got here, but if you'll remember, all the Viruses have been most interested in getting rid of us. Because they're able to take control of the Data Digimon here and infect them, what if they close the holes to keep us in here?"

The others thought on that for a minute. "What if _they're_ the ones that open the holes, too?" Kiira asked. "They do that to lure us in, we come, and they try to get rid of us."

Miyuki stood back and watched the geniuses at work. Their conversation was easy to follow, but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to come to the same conclusions as fast as they were. Following her gut? That she could do. Strategize and figure out the enemy's plans? Not so much.

"I'll just... leave you guys to it," she said. "We're gonna go take a walk. If you need us, we won't exactly be hard to find."

Kiira frowned. "I'll be right back," she told the others. What if Miyuki left because they were making her feel stupid? They knew they were all smart, and Miyuki had admitted that she was below average. She hated making people feel like the were less than her.

"You know," DemiDevimon said once they were out of earshot of the others, not looking behind them. "I'm not sure she'll ever trust us." He didn't need to elaborate on who 'she' was.

Miyuki sighed. "I know. No matter what I do, she just won't get it through her thick head." She kicked up a little sand in frustration as she walked. Hearing some coughing from behind her, she turned to see Kiira following her. "What do you want?" She paused, realizing how that sounded. "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

The translator shook her head. "It's fine. As for Hana..." She glanced back at the group. "Just give her time."

The brunette looked down at her boots, briefly wondering if the sand was going to be a bitch to get out. "She's had time." She started twirling one of her pigtails. "You should get back."

"Are you going to be okay?" Kiira asked her as she turned, still looking at the other girl over her shoulder.

Miyuki nodded with a small smile. "Yeah. We'll be fine, promise."

Kiira seemed to be debating it for another moment before accepting what the other girl had to say. "Alright. Just come back soon, okay?"

Miyuki nodded, and once Kiira was out of earshot, she looked back at her partner. From the look on his face, it seemed like they were thinking the same thing.

"You know what we have to do now, right?" he asked.

She nodded with a sigh. "Yeah." Without looking back, she put her hands in her pockets and began walking.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"What was that about?" Hana asked, raising a brow as Kiira returned to the group.

"She just needs to clear her head a little," she replied. "She should be back soon."

Hana nodded a little, but it was hard to see if she really cared. She _had_ seemed to care when they thought they'd lost the brunette to the deep web, but they couldn't really tell if that was a one time thing.

"It's not like we'll lose sight of her, at any rate," Renamon commented.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Palmon said, pointing to their right. Wind was picking up, and sand was flying everywhere.

"Everybody, cover your mouths and shut your eyes!" Hana yelled, pulling her shirt up and clenching her eyes shut. The other two did the same. Renamon covered her face while Labramon and Palmon used her tail to assist them. They waited like that for about fifteen minutes before the wind finally died. The girls brushed the sand off themselves while Renamon was forced to shake the sand off her. Labramon had to do the same, but not as harshly.

Palmon looked in the direction Miyuki had gone, but the brunette was nowhere in sight. She, along with the others, hoped that she hadn't been buried. She was about to suggest looking for her when another cloud of dust caught their attention. This didn't seem to be a sandstorm, though. This looked more like dust getting kicked up from something approaching at a high speed.

An orange, monkey-like figure was coming into view, sliding on what appeared to be a pair of thick black cables that rose from the sand as he came.

"Name: Etemon. Classification: Virus. Threat: High."

"Well, looks like we found our Virus of the day," Labramon commented dryly.

"You're the reason we're stuck here, aren't you?" Palmon asked, glaring. "You closed the entryway."

"And opened it, too," the Ultimate replied with a smirk. "And now you're going to be destroyed and it'll save us a whole lot of trouble in the future."

"Us?" Hana asked. "You and the other Viruses?"

Etemon raised his hands. "Consider yourself lucky, you won't have to deal with that much longer. Dark Network!" As he spoke, more black cables rose from the sand, surrounding them in a crossed network. Dark sparks of electricity flowed in the squares made, causing the humans and their partners to fall to their knees.

"That was painful..." Palmon said unnecessarily. Her partner nodded.

"Yeah," Kiira agreed. "Let's finish this guys quick."

"Palmon Digivolve to... Togemon!"

"Labramon Digivolve to... Seasarmon!"

"Renamon Digivolve to... Kyubimon!"

Hana glared at the Ultimate in front of them. "Alright," she told the others. "Let's get rid of this guy quick and get out of here."

"What about Miyuki?" Yumi asked, concerned for the girl they had been separated from.

"She'll find her way out," the blonde replied. "But honestly, we have more important things to worry about right now!"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki coughed, trying to get the sand out of her lungs that had managed to slip through her hand. She had been busy protecting her partner at the same time, so that didn't leave much to help herself with. "You okay, DemiDevimon?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "I'm fine. How about you?"

The brunette coughed again. "I'll be good in a few minutes. I just need a minute." She sat down, allowing DemiDevimon to place himself in her lap. "You know," she began. "This place is nuts. First I get sent here by some weird glowing figure, then I get attacked by girls who are supposed to be my teammates, then I bruise my back pretty badly, _then_ I join the team and am not really wanted around by the leader." She sighed. "I think the internet is trying to kill me." Her partner gave a small laugh, earning a light whack to his head.

"So, you're just going to be going home after this is all done and over with, then?" the Rookie asked.

"What else am I supposed to do?" she answered with a shrug. "I miss my family." When she noticed his slight frown, she realized what he was getting at. "But that means I probably won't see you again..." She rested an elbow on her knee and placed her chin in her hand. "This sucks." Her eyes widened when she felt the ground shift underneath her. "You feel that, right?"

"Yeah, I do," DemiDevimon confirmed. "Now let's _move_!"

Miyuki jumped to her feet as DemiDevimon took to the air, both running away from the quaking sand. Mere moments later, a giant scorpion-like Digimon became visible as the sand slid off it.

"Name: Scorpiomon. Classification: Data. Threat: High."

The human studied it for a brief moment. "Okay, by the dark colors, glowing red eyes, and the fact that it's probably trying to kill us, I'm gonna guess that this thing was infected."

"I'd put some money on that one," her Virus partner agreed.

"Scorpion Storm!" the Ultimate yelled, sand flying toward them.

Miyuki immediately covered her face again. "Dammit, not again." She chanced a look at her partner, hoping the sand wouldn't get in her eyes. "Hey, partner," she said. "You know what to do." She pulled out her Digivice with her free hand and clicked it open.

"DemiDevimon Digivolve to... Devidramon!"

"Crimson Claw!" the Champion Virus yelled, slicing straight through the new sandstorm and hitting Scorpiomon straight in the face.

Scorpiomon glared up at him. "You'll pay for that!" he yelled, moving surprisingly fast for his size and build. "Twin Sword!" He lashed his bladed tail forward, stabbing the arm that had just attacked him. Devidramon howled in pain.

"You okay?" Miyuki asked.

Her partner nodded. "I'll be fine, just get to safety." He raised the other claw. "It would really suck if you got buried in another sandstorm."

"Safety _where_?" she muttered. "Desert, remember?" She sighed, moving as far away from the battle as she could. She just hoped her partner could take care of it. He was not facing good odds right now.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Now might be a good time to Digivolve again," Kiira suggested, turning to Hana.

The blonde nodded. "I like that plan."

"Kyubimon Digivolve to... Taomon!"

"Togemon Digivolve to... Lillymon!"

Yumi frowned, watching the Ultimate forms of her friends' partners, knowing that Seasarmon hadn't been able to surpass his Champion form yet. The best they could do was provide support.

"Sun's Courage!" Seasarmon yelled in an attempt to distract their opponent.

"Thousand Spells!" Taomon called out, immobilizing Etemon for the moment.

"Flower Cannon!" Lillymon attacked, firing her own attack, but it seemed a bit weak.

Kiira watched her partner with worry. "Are you okay, Lillymon?" She noticed the way her partner seemed to be flying a bit slower, almost as though she were getting very worn out, though the battle hadn't lasted all that long.

The plant Ultimate gave a small nod, but Taomon shook her head. "No, you're not," she said. "You're a plant Digimon and we're in the desert. It's only natural that you would be a bit weakened. Leave this to me." She turned to Etemon.

"Dark Network!" he yelled out, the cables reaching from the ground and wrapping around Taomon and Lillymon. Apparently he hadn't seen Seasarmon as much of a threat.

Taomon winced at the attack before pulling Lillymon to her side. "Stay by me," she said before holding two fingers in front of her. "Talisman Spell!" she called out, causing a protective dome to surround the two. "You'll be safe in here." Taomon looked down to Seasarmon. "It's up to you," she said softly, though he heard her all the same.

"Sun's Courage!" the Champion yelled, aiming for the cables that were rising to meet him instead of at Etemon himself.

Etemon used some other cables to travel to Seasarmon's side, kicking him into the air. When he landed, some of the cables wrapped around him.

Yumi looked down at her Digivice. "Okay, now would be a good time." As if on cue, the device opened and data began pouring from it to her partner in a way that was easily recognizable by now.

"Seasarmon Digivolve to... Cerberumon!"

"Name: Cerberumon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None."

The lavender haired girl watched her partner that looked like a Virus, but was really a Vaccine, as her Digivice said. His large black body with long claws and shoulder pads that looked like heads was a little disconcerting. But he was her partner.

"That's a Vaccine?" Hana asked.

Taomon looked down to her partner. "Cerberumon is a unique Digimon, one of very few that can be either a Vaccine or a Virus." Her voice sounded strange, as though she was putting a lot of effort into maintaining the dome around her and Lillymon. There was a good chance that she was.

Cerberumon cracked his neck before staring Etemon down. "How do you feel now that we've leveled the playing field, huh?" He took a step forward. "Ultimate against Ultimate." He opened his mouth. "Emerald Blaze!" he yelled, surrounding Etemon in flames, burning the cables that he was standing on, spreading to the ones that encompassed the area around them. "Not so tough without your toys, are you?"

"You thought that was everything I had?" Etemon asked with a laugh before putting his hands in front of him, touching at the wrist. "Concert Crush!" he yelled as a dark sphere shot forward, hitting Cerberumon in the face, though he didn't seem to be damaged much. At the same time, though, he made no move to counterattack.

"Come on, Cerberumon, you've got to fight back," Yumi insisted.

The Ultimate shrugged. "What's the point? It's just the six of us—eight if you count Miyuki and DemiDevimon—against an internet full of Viruses ready to kill us. There's no way we'll make it."

Yumi frowned. This wasn't like her act first, think later partner. There was something about that attack, and she needed to do something. She bit her lip, trying to think of a solution. When Devimon had put Devidramon under his control, Miyuki had made herself a target, put herself in danger to snap her partner out of it. It was risky, but it was the only hope she had. She stepped away from the group, toward the field of sand where the battle was taking place. She had to be close. She needed to be seen.

"Hey, Etemon!" she called, already regretting her decision. "You wanted to destroy us? Well come on then, take your best shot!" She gulped, hoping Cerberumon would snap out of it before Etemon decided to take the bait.

"You idiot, what are you doing?!" Hana yelled at her, about to run over to stop her. Kiira grabbed her arm and shook her head. "Trust her. I think she knows exactly what she's doing."

Hana wrenched free of her friend's grasp but didn't make another move toward the battle. "She's getting herself killed, _that's_ what she's doing..." she muttered.

Etemon smirked. "Well, well, looks like at least one of you is smart enough to know when you're beat." He reached down to grab her but a sharp pain in his wrist stopped him. He looked down to see the mouth of the other Ultimate clamped tightly around his wrist, stopping him from reaching his partner. Thrashing his head to the side, he tossed Etemon before running toward him.

"Emerald Blaze!" he yelled, shooting out another blast of devastating fire, finally destroying Etemon.

Taomon gave a soft smile and she and the other two Ultimates returned to their Rookie forms. "It's nice to see that done and over with."

"You're telling me," Labramon agreed with a grin. Turning his gaze to Hana, he said, "So, where to next, boss?"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Devidramon was about to raise his claw again when data started falling away from Scorpiomon. Dark red gave way to a tan exoskeleton and his eyes changed from glowing red to sky blue.

"Oh, dear..." he muttered. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Devidramon shook his head. "Nothing we won't recover from," he replied before returning to his Rookie form. He looked to his partner. "What just happened?"

The brunette twirled her pigtail again. "My best guess? The others got rid of the main Virus running the place. Without it, the viruses it made just kinda disappeared. Meaning Scorpiomon here was freed."

"Thank you," the Ultimate said.

Miyuki sighed. As much as she wanted to take credit for it... "That wasn't me. My friends were responsible for that."

"Give them my thanks," he requested before burrowing back into the sand.

"Yeah..." the girl muttered, letting go of her hair and putting her hands in her pockets, DemiDevimon perched on her shoulder. "If I see them again..."

 **Next time:  
DemiDevimon: I thought we agreed this was a bad idea!  
Miyuki: I know, but if a lot of the Viruses are coming from there, then we might get some good information.  
DemiDevimon: Yeah, or we might get killed!**

 **Yeah, I know that preview was really short... And sorry if anything past Kyubimon and Togemon Digivolving seems weird... I am exhausted right now. Within ten minutes of posting this, there's a good chance I'll be asleep. Ah sleep... (Also, the thing with Scorpiomon not really being much of a battle was not a copout to get done sooner. I planned that earlier)**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	13. Return to the Deep Web

**Okay, now here we are at episode 13. Also, I'm at the beach, so finding time to work on this has been a little difficult, but hey, I made it, right?**

 _ **Labramon:**_ _"So, we all wound up in another desert and Miyuki and DemiDevimon went off on their own, probably to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, a sandstorm hit and we kinda lost them, but then a Virus showed up and I Digivolved to Cerberumon to kick its ass. But we're still separated from Miyuki, and we have no idea where she is. We seem to have a lot of trouble sticking together..."_

* * *

Miyuki smiled a little when she saw the hole in front of her. She was getting sick of seeing only sand for miles. Now she could get moving...

When she stepped through, DemiDevimon on her shoulder, she looked around to find herself alone. Either the others girls hadn't left yet, or their hole had opened up much farther than hers had. It was probably better that way. Despite the fact that she and Harusawa didn't get along all that well, she liked to think of the others as her friends. And she didn't want to have to try to slip away without any unfortunate goodbyes again. She wasn't sure if she'd meet up with them again.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Dammit..." Hana muttered. "What does that idiot think she's doing...?"

"Miyuki?" Kiira asked. "Well, she probably still didn't feel completely welcome, so..."

"So she just goes off on her own when she can easily get herself killed?" the blonde asked.

"I never said it was smart of her..." the other girl replied.

Yumi sighed at the bickering, looking down the tunnel, seeing no sign of the brunette or her Virus partner. "I hope you're okay, whatever you're doing..." she said quietly.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki leaned against the tunnel wall, staring at the binary around her.

"What are you thinking?" the Rookie asked, studying her face. She was looking straight ahead, but she seemed focused instead of lost in thought. She seemed to be looking directly at the wall opposite them. DemiDevimon's eyes widened as he picked up on her thought process. "I thought we agreed this was a bad idea!" he exclaimed as she pushed off the wall, still studying it.

"I know," she replied, placing her hands against the invisible surface to find where it would give way. "But if a lot of the Viruses are coming from there, then we might get some good information."

"Yeah, or we might get killed!" DemiDevimon yelled. "You remember the last time we were in there. I almost became one of them!"

Miyuki didn't look up. "I trust you," she said simply. She couldn't feel any difference, but a feeling hit her in the gut as soon as her hand touched a certain spot. It was difficult to figure out. It was very bad, but at the same time... there was something else, but she couldn't place it. It was something they had to risk.

The human pulled out her Digivice. "I need you to get us in there," she said. "And there's probably going to be some stronger stuff in there." She clicked the little device open.

"DemiDevimon Digivolve to... Devidramon!"

The large four-eyed demon dragon picked Miyuki up and curled his hands around her to protect her before going through the spot his partner had pointed out. Just as they had last time, they passed through the wall with ease.

Miyuki had to hold her Digivice closed to keep it from opening and trying to scan all the Viruses around them.

"So, what are you planning to do while we're here?" Devidramon asked. "How do you plan on getting information from all of these?" He swept an arm out to motion to the countless Viruses flowing past them.

Miyuki thought for a minute. "Um... find a way to grab one and yank it out, back into the tunnel?"

Devidramon raised a brow. "You do know that these are all probably stronger than me, right? 'Yanking one out' isn't going to be easy." His eyes narrowed. "And there's no way in hell I'm absorbing any more Viruses into me like last time."

The girl nodded. "Yeah, that was definitely not smart," she agreed.

"Yeah, and it was definitely your idea," her partner commented with a nod. She rolled her eyed.

Miyuki scanned the figures going by. She remembered that when she had jumped from Devidramon's hands before, she had gotten a better look. Against her better judgment, she looked at him and said, "Drop me."

"What? No way in hell!" he argued.

"Drop me," she said again.

"Why?"

"Just do it!" she yelled, but when he made no move to do so, she jumped. The girl immediately lost sight of her partner as she was swept away by the shadows she knew were becoming clearer. The ones around her seemed to be giant insects with tattered wings and a sharp stinger. She reached for a wing and grabbed on, though she had half-expected her hand to go straight through it.

Miyuki had to put her free arm in front of her face as shadows began to bombard her, and after minute, her grip on the wing slipped, sending her tumbling. Her back hit something hard and she blacked out.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

When she finally came to, Miyuki saw that there were no Digimon, shadowed or otherwise, surrounding her. She was surrounded by blackness, almost like the tunnel, but the binary was red, instead of bright green. "What the hell...?" she muttered.

"You..." a voice hissed, causing her to turn, though she couldn't see anything. The voice seemed to be coming from all directions.

"Who are you?" she called out. "And where the hell am I?"

A deep chuckled filled the space around her. "Haven't you figured out where you are?"

The brunette's eyes narrowed. "Obviously not, or I wouldn't be asking." She paused to think for a minute. "I'm not in the Virus tunnel anymore, am I?"

"No," the voice replied. "You're even further than that. You're far away from your partner. As we speak, the Viruses around him are merging with him, corrupting him, making him one of us." She could almost hear the smirk when it spoke next. "Making him mine."

"You're the big bad Virus in charge of all this, aren't you?" Miyuki asked, still trying to discern the source. She tried to ignore the cold feeling that was starting to fill her.

She received no answer. Instead, she heard, "What makes you so special, I wonder...? The other humans were handpicked in your world, but you... you are different." The voice took on a darker tone. "I would like to know why."

"I have no clue!" she yelled. "I'm just a below average kid! What the hell do I know about saving the internet?"

"Mm, what, indeed," the voice spoke. She had the feeling she was being studied. The sound of clanking footsteps behind her caused her to turn. A red figure, almost resembling a dinosaur, but not quite, covered in armor and other machinery approached her, clicking its pincer like hand open and closed.

Miyuki watched it for a moment. She was getting another gut feeling. "This isn't actually you, is it?" she asked. "This is just a puppet."

"I understand now," the Digimon said with a nod, using the same voice that had surrounded her. "Your intuition is exceedingly above normal. However, as entertaining as watching you struggle may be, I cannot allow you to live any longer." The Digimon puppet raised its arm, seemingly about to fire some sort of energy cannon at her. "Your partner cannot save you now."

Miyuki braced herself for impact, but was surprised when it never came. Instead, a familiar voice in front of her spoke. "He cannot," it said. "But I can."

"You!" the voice yelled. "I thought you were dead!"

"Merely in hiding," the robed figure that had brought Miyuki into the internet told it. "I may not have as much influence here as I did before you came, but I have enough to save this girl." He touched her shoulder and the cold feeling disappeared.

There was silence for a long moment. "Fine," the voice said. "But we will meet again, human. Be sure of that. And you will not escape this time." With that, the Digimon it had used as its puppet disappeared, disintegrating into tiny bits of data.

Miyuki turned on the figure. "Okay, you owe me some answers," she told him. "What am I doing here? Why me? There are already those three other girls here."

"Your intuition, as our enemy stated, makes you a great asset," he told her. "The other three girls have the brainpower, but you, Miyuki Otori," he continued, tapping her chest, "have heart."

The brunette paused. "What did you do back there? And who are you, anyway?"

The figure put his hands together, cloaking them both in his robe. "Our enemy was attempting to infect you with one of his viruses. Had he finished, he would have you under his control. You would be a puppet, just as the Chaosdromon had been as his mouthpiece. I purged the virus from your body."

"If you did that, then why can't you 'purge' the viruses from the internet?" Miyuki asked.

"If I had noticed the growing problem sooner, I may have been able to do so," he said, almost sounding ashamed. "However, it was overlooked until it was too late. Our enemy had grown too strong, and unbeknownst to me, he had begun slowly sapping my strength. It used up much of my power to bring you here. Thus, I had to recover."

"Okay, but you didn't answer my second question," the brunette pointed out. "Who are you?"

"For lack of a better term," he began. "I suppose you may call me the Spirit of the Internet."

"The _what_?"

"I am comprised of some of the first programs and codes that built the internet. With time, as the internet grew, so did I. I grew a consciousness, and I became its protector," he informed her. "I am, unfortunately, unable to affect much of the code that is transferred into your world, so I am unable to protect you from the problems that plague you, but I am responsible for the inner workings. I take this form to appear as something familiar to you."

"So what do you normally look like?"

"Under most circumstances, I simply exist. I have no form or appearance, but I believed you would find it much more comforting to talk to a visible being," the Spirit told her.

Miyuki took a moment to process what she had been told before speaking again. "If you control all this," she said slowly. "Then why can't you stop that Virus that's taking over everything?"

"As I said, it has been sapping my strength. By the time I realized that something was amiss, it was too late," he spoke. "I sensed it the moment the other humans entered this world, but I knew they wouldn't be enough. They have stronger brainpower of most people their age, but that knowledge prevents them from listening to their heart. That is why you are here, Miyuki Otori. You know when it is time to listen to your brain, and when it is time to listen to your heart."

The brunette nodded slowly. "Devidramon has been on his own in the Virus tunnel for a long time," she said quietly. "Is he okay?"

"Yes," the Spirit told her. "Our enemy was lying to you. Devidramon has been fighting with everything he has to find you, fending off any Virus attempting to take him over."

She smiled a little. "That's my partner." A thought occurred to her. "Hey," she began. "Do you know who this enemy of ours is?"

"Alas, I cannot say," he replied. "I have never seen it in its true form. It is not something to be taken lightly."

"I figured that out," she told him dryly. "Hey, can you send me back to my partner? He's gonna need my help."

"Of course," he replied and she felt herself lifted from where she stood and pulled through the ceiling of this odd, red binary tunnel.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

The first thing Miyuki heard when she emerged among the shadows was the familiar sounds of battle. She could distinctly hear the cries of her Champion partner. Pushing her way against the shadows, she smiled when he was in view. He was fighting the same kind of insect Digimon she had latched on to before.

"Devidramon!" she called out.

"Miyuki!" he yelled, relief clear in his voice. "Where the hell were you?"

"Let's go over that later," she suggested. "Right now, we've got other problems." She nodded at their Virus enemies. "How've you been doing out here on your own?"

"Not the best," he admitted. "But it's good to have you back."

The brunette nodded. "It's good to be back."

Devidramon was about to speak again when he saw one of the Digimon fly away from him, directly towards his partner. "Crimson Claw!" he yelled, swiping it. It disappeared, data flowing into Miyuki's Digivice, which was once again spewing nonsense.

"Brown Stingers!" the remaining few Digimon yelled, firing their stingers at her partner. Each pierced the skin with ease.

Miyuki looked down at her Digivice, hoping she could get a little help from it. A grin spread across her face when she saw some of the data the small device contained flowing toward her partner.

"Devidramon Digivolve to... Phantomon!"

"Awesome!" Miyuki yelled, holding her Digivice closed again. The gibberish was starting to get annoying.

Phantomon nodded. "You said it." He turned to his remaining enemies. "I'm pretty sure you're all screwed now," he commented, raising his scythe. He lowered it a fraction in shock when the three insects merged and absorbed more shadowed Viruses around them and became a large, grey and red beetle type Digimon.

"You forgot they could do that too, didn't you?" Miyuki asked with a sigh.

"Shit," was his only reply.

"Double Scissor Claw!" it yelled, clamping its mandibles around the other Ultimate. Phantomon squirmed, blue eyes narrowed in irritation. With his arms pinned, he couldn't attack with his weapon. He looked to Miyuki, hoping she knew what his plan was. Luckily, she did, after seeing him loosen his grip on the scythe for a moment. She nodded, and he dropped it, pulling his arms close to his sides, making him too small for the mandibles to hold. He slid straight down, grabbing his scythe before it could be swept away by the other Viruses.

"Shadow Scythe!" he yelled, swiping the bladed weapon down, sending a wave of energy toward his opponent. It was forced back a few feet, but otherwise stood its ground. It shook its head violently, smacking Phantomon to the side with its pincers. His scythe went flying away from him, but landed close to his human partner, who had managed to find a stance in which she was able to remain stationary. The Ultimate himself and found himself starting to be pulled under by the Viruses around him.

Miyuki acted without thinking. Ignoring everything else around her, she grabbed the scythe by the end of the staff and held it out of her partner. Luckily, he was able to grip the base of the blade and pull himself out.

"Now you've just pissed me off," he stated, righting himself. "Shadow Scythe!" he yelled, this attack finishing the enemy off. He grabbed his partner's hand. "Let's get out of here," he said, heading for the wall that he knew would take them back to the tunnel, pulling Miyuki behind him.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Almost as soon as they reentered the main tunnel, Phantomon returned to his Rookie form.

"Are you okay?" Miyuki asked as he took his place on her shoulder, looking a little woozy.

He nodded. "Well, I'm definitely not doing that again." He sighed. "I _should_ be asking you that. What happened back there, where'd you go?"

"Man, do I have a _lot_ to tell you..."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

He had lost his corporeal form once again, but he continued to watch her. He had watched over her since she had arrived, though until now, he had been unable to interfere. And as long as this mysterious Virus continued to gain strength, he would be unable to do so again. Even now, he could feel his power being sapped from his very being.

If things continued to go as they were, there was a good chance that he wouldn't see the end of this battle. There was the possibility that he would cease to exist before this conflict was over. He could only hope that another being like him would be created once peace had returned. He didn't want to leave the internet to fend for itself.

He was glad he had been able to save her from succumbing to the Virus's intent, but he hoped she wouldn't fall into that position again.

He wouldn't be able to save her again.

 **Next time:  
Hana: Okay, where did you go this time?  
Miyuki: Remember that Virus tunnel I went in last time?  
Yumi: The deep web?  
DemiDevimon: Maybe we should have this conversation later.  
Renamon: I don't like the looks of this...**

 **Okay, that thing with the Spirit of the Internet probably seemed weird, but before anyone goes off on me, LET ME EXPLAIN. He was another thing I came up with near the beginning of the developmental stage. I think the best way to make him make sense is to compare him to Gennai. Gennai wasn't a Digimon, he was a thing created by the Digital World, presumably to help out the Digi-Destined, considering he saved their Eggs. Likewise, the Spirit was created to protect the internet, though he is not omnipotent. He does, unfortunately, have a lot of limits. And like it was stated, he didn't know how much the Virus was growing until it was too late.**

 **Anyway, I hope that cleared that up a little and made it make sense, because I really,** _ **really**_ **needed to get this done and it started writing itself and, well... that's just the way things are now.**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	14. Reunion

**Welp, here we are again, episode 14. I don't know if any of you have noticed, but my motivation for this story is kinda declining, but I'm trying to keep myself going. I know there are some people who like it, and I don't want to suddenly cut it off, and there** _ **are**_ **parts that I really am excited to write, but getting from point A to point B is kinda difficult right now. It's also the reason these have been posted super late in the day now. I don't start them until, like, three or four in the afternoon on Wednesday, and then I have to work from 6 to 9.**

 **Side note: Just like in Digimon Academy, I am using the Digivolving system from Data Squad, in that Rookie to Champion is Digivolve, Rookie to Ultimate is Warp Digivolve, and Rookie to Mega is Double Warp Digivolve.**

 **Anyway, enough of my bullshit, let's get this show on the road~**

 _ **Miyuki:**_ _"The weirdest thing happened while Devidramon and I were back in the tunnel. I got pulled down into this weird place below it and met the Virus behind everything... sort of. It was using another Virus as a puppet, so I don't know its real identity, but I did find out why I'm here. This thing called the Spirit of the Internet pulled me in because of those feelings I get. He also sent me back to the Virus tunnel, where Devidramon was having some trouble, but he managed to Digivolve to Phantomon. We managed to get out, and now we just need to meet back up with the others. They need to know this."_

* * *

Miyuki walked through the tunnel once again, trying to find the others. They were either somewhere in here, or they had found another site. She hoped it was the former, because she would have no way of knowing which website they would have traveled into.

"So, what are you going to say when we find them?" DemiDevimon asked, perched on her shoulder, as usual. "I mean, I don't think they're going to be too happy that we just went off on our own."

The brunette thought for a moment. "Well, we're the only ones who can make it through the wall, right? And that's exactly what we did." She shrugged. "I can just say that's what we went off to do."

"Isn't that lying?" the Rookie queried. "I mean, we just went off on our own first, and _then_ decided to go." When his partner didn't answer, he added, "Or... you were thinking about it since we left."

"It crossed my mind," Miyuki admitted. "But we learned some pretty important stuff."

DemiDevimon looked at her. "But you didn't even learn the actual identity of the Virus in charge."

"No," she replied. "But at least now we know he can have some kind of control over the other Virus Digimon here. And he's been here a really long time, from what the Spirit said." She paused. "And we know he's probably too strong for us to take on right now."

"So we won't be stupid enough to take it on when we're ready to," her partner said, realizing where she was going with her statement.

Miyuki nodded. "Exactly."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"You know, we've been walking for a really long time, and we haven't seen anything since that desert website," Labramon commented.

"The question is," Renamon began, "is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Hana said nothing as the others debated what the inactivity could mean. She was wondering that, herself, but she also had other things on her mind, such as why Otori had run off like she had. She didn't like the fact that she was never able to predict the brunette's actions. It made her uncomfortable, but she would never admit that.

The blonde paused when she saw a ripple in the binary above them. When it appeared on one of the walls, it usually meant a door was opening to a website, but when it came from above, it meant that something was coming. A mere moment later, a large, red and mechanical Digimon dropped, landing hard on its feet.

"Holy shit, that guy's creepy..." Kiira muttered.

"Name: Chaosdromon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Extreme."

"You guys know what to do," Hana told them.

"Renamon Warp Digivolve to... Taomon!"

"Palmon Warp Digivolve to... Lillymon!"

"Labramon Warp Digivolve to... Cerberumon!"

"Okay, guys, let's do this!" Kiira encouraged the Ultimates.

Yumi nodded. "Even though Chaosdromon is a Mega, three on one should be enough to beat him," she said.

"Let's hope so," her partner said. "Emerald Blaze!" he yelled, surrounding the Mega with a ring of green fire. To the group's dismay, however, their metallic opponent walked straight through the flames as though they weren't there.

"Hyper Attack!" Chaosdromon countered, firing two high powered energy beams from the cannons on his back. The Ultimates were just barely able to dodge, though one of Taomon's sleeves was singed.

Hana studied the Mega for a moment, searching for a weak point, but so far, she hadn't found one. The Virus was completely covered in armor, so there didn't seem to be any vulnerable areas. She had to find something fast, or they would really be in trouble.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Miyuki's head shot up when she heard the familiar sounds of battle ahead. She could just barely see the attacks being fired, such as the light of some kind of energy and the green flames. That had to be the others.

"Come on, let's go!" she told DemiDevimon, breaking into a run.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Hana was forced to look away from Chaosdromon when she heard footsteps behind them. Another enemy?

When she turned, she saw the black-clad brunette who had run off on them before. "Okay, where did you go this time?" she asked once Miyuki was within earshot.

"Remember that Virus tunnel I went in last time?" she asked, slightly out of breath.

"The deep web?" Yumi questioned.

Miyuki was about to reply when her partner spoke. "Maybe we should have this conversation later," he suggested.

"Good idea," the brunette agreed. "Let's get in on the action." She opened her Digivice, letting the data pour into the Rookie.

"DemiDevimon Warp Digivolve to... Phantomon!"

Kiira smiled. "Looks like you guys made it to Ultimate, too!"

"Looks like," Miyuki replied with a nod before turning to the enemy. "You..." she whispered, earning confused looks from the other girls. She shook herself out of it. "I'll tell you later. Let's just say I ran into this thing before."

"Shadow Scythe!" Phantomon yelled, swinging his weapon. Unfortunately, the scythe only bounced harmlessly off the armor.

"We could have told you that would have happened," Lillymon commented.

The Virus looked at her. "Then why didn't you?"

"We didn't exactly have time," the plant Ultimate replied, putting her hands together. "Flower Cannon!" she yelled, aiming for one of the cannons, though the attack missed.

"If my attack didn't work, what makes you think yours will?" Phantomon asked.

Cerberumon was the first to catch on. "He can't attack us all that easily if his cannons are jammed."

"That's great and everything," Phantomon told him. "But all I have is a scythe, and you're a big dog. How are _we_ supposed to help?"

Hana thought for a moment. "Lillymon's really the only one who can do that. The three of you just focus on keeping him distracted. Push him back, and let Lillymon focus on his cannons."

"Got it!" the other three Ultimates replied.

Miyuki watched Chaosdromon closely. If he was still being controlled, then they would really be in trouble. With some extra power from the main Virus, he could crush them like bugs. But for the moment, from the looks of it, Chaosdromon was in control of himself. She didn't know how much easier the battle would necessarily be, but if he had that extra power, she knew without a doubt that they wouldn't stand a chance.

"Shadow Scythe!" Phantomon called out.

Taomon moved swiftly behind Chaosdromon, readying her brush. "Talisman of Light!"

The Mega was first pushed back before being forced to take a step forward from the strength of the Vaccine's attack.

Cerberumon, knowing none of his attacks would have any effect, charge forward, ramming him in the side. He backed up and shook his head, seeing stars from how hard he hit the metal. To his credit, the straightforward assault did catch the Virus by surprise.

Lillymon flew above the battle, bringing her arms together once again. "Flower Cannon!" she yelled, and this time, the attack hit its intended target. Chaosdromon's left cannon began spouting smoke, being left inoperable.

Phantomon circled their opponent before an idea came to him. "Shadow Scythe!" he yelled once he was behind the Mega. Before Chaosdromon had a chance to turn around, Phantomon brought his scythe down on the other cannon. The tip of the blade caught the hole, causing the metal to split as the weapon continued downward.

"Now, we only have its arm cannon to deal with," Hana said.

Cerberumon looked back at the humans before returning his gaze to their current foe. He was just getting his bearings back, but he knew he'd have that headache for at least another few hours. He charged again, this time jumping on the Mega.

Chaosdromon's right claws opened, as though he were about to attack, but as soon as his mouth opened, the Vaccine on top of him acted. "Emerald Blaze!" the Ultimate yelled, blasting the fire inside the Mega. Finishing his attack, he jumped off. "You may wanna take cover," he suggested to the others.

"Yeah, take cover in an empty tunnel," Miyuki commented. "Easier said than done."

Luckily, they all managed to make it a safe distance away when Chaosdromon exploded in a green flame.

"How did you know that would work?" Taomon asked as the data from their Virus opponent flowed to their partners' Digivices.

He shrugged. "I didn't."

Once their partners had returned to Rookie level, Hana turned to Miyuki expectantly. "You owe us that explanation now. Why'd you take off and what the hell were you doing in the deep web again?"

"I knew that was where a lot of the Viruses were coming from," the brunette replied. "I figured I might be able to get some information from one of them."

"And did you?" Yumi asked.

Miyuki nodded. "Oh, yeah. First off, this Virus we're after? It's been here a lot longer than we thought. And there's this thing, the Spirit of the Internet—"

"The _what_?" Hana asked with a raised brow.

The black-clad girl sighed. "That's what he called himself. He's the one that brought me here, and he did it because of the feelings that I get. He's been here for as long as the internet's been around."

"If he's been around that long, he has to be pretty powerful," Yumi commented. "Maybe he can help us."

Miyuki shook her head. "No. From what he told me, the Virus has been taking energy from him. He's not as powerful as he used to be. It took a lot of recovery time from when he brought me here to be able to appear again, and I'm not sure he'll be able to do it again. From what I understand, he's getting weaker and weaker by the minute."

"I don't like the looks of this..." Renamon said softly.

"Me neither," Hana agreed. "If what you're saying is true—"

"Which it is," Miyuki interjected with a glare.

"—then it might not make it to see the end of all this," the blonde continued as though the other girl hadn't interrupted.

"All the more reason to finish this quickly," Kiira said.

Yumi bit her lip. "Weren't you listening?" she asked. "If this thing keeps drawing power from the internet _itself_ , then we could be in a lot of trouble. There's no way we'll be able to face it the way we are now. We need to find a way to get stronger. Quickly."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"We need to find somewhere to stop," Renamon commented. "It should be night about now, and I think everyone's a bit tired."

Hana nodded. "You're right."

Miyuki glanced at a hole in the wall. She was getting a feeling again. Looking at her partner, she said, "Hey, you think this is that place we first wound up in?"

DemiDevimon thought for a moment. "It might be," he agreed. "It does seem kinda... familiar, somehow."

That seemed to be good enough for the brunette. "I think maybe we can head in here for the night. I know someone in this area, and he can probably help us find somewhere to sleep."

Hana didn't answer, and Kiira gave her a look. "It's as good a place as any," she informed her. "And it's better to be somewhere familiar to at least one of us."

"Alright, fine, let's go," she finally agreed before Miyuki stepped through.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"Be careful when you come through," Miyuki called behind her as the rest of the group came through, one by one. They were all standing on a small ledge alongside a rock cliff.

Hana glared at her. "This is _definitely_ a good place to rest," she said sarcastically.

"Hold on a minute," the brunette argued, seeing a familiar shape flying toward them. "Hey, Unimon!" she yelled.

"Hello, again," he said once he arrived. "What are you doing back here?"

"We need a place to hang for the night, and it's a lot safer in here than it is back out in the tunnel," she replied. "Do you know of anywhere we can stay?"

Unimon nodded. "I do. Follow me."

The group carefully made their way along the ledge while Unimon led the way. A few minutes later, they found a cave carved into the side of the cliff, more than big enough for the eight of them.

"Thank you, Unimon," Yumi said with a smile.

He nodded. "Anything for the Digi-Destined," he said before flying off.

Miyuki said against the wall, feeling the pain start to return to her back. It didn't surprise her in the slightest, as she hadn't really felt it in quite some time. The pain grew, causing her to clench her jaw to avoid drawing attention to it. She didn't want to seem like she was trying to use her injury to get attention.

Unfortunately, Yumi saw right through it.

"It's your back again, isn't it?" she asked, concerned.

The brunette nodded. "Yeah," she managed. "Give it a minute, and it'll go away."

The lavender haired girl sat beside her. "There's really nothing else you can do for it?"

Miyuki shook her head. "Not that I know of." She sighed. "I just hope that this doesn't carry over into the Real World when we go back. I don't want my dads worrying any more than they already are..."

"Dads?" Yumi asked.

Miyuki's eyes widened a fraction. She hadn't meant to say that. She should have just said 'parents'. She didn't like the looks she often got when she explained that she had two fathers, so she had just stopped describing them that way. "Yeah..." she finally said. "I have two dads..."

"From your reaction, I'm gonna guess that a lot of people aren't really fans of that, huh?" Yumi said. "It's alright, I don't think it's weird. Different, but not in a bad way. I figure, as long as people are happy with who they're with, who cares, right?"

The brunette let out a relieved breath. This talk was actually helping take her mind off the pain. "So, what's your home life like?"

The hacker adjusted her glasses. "Well, there's not really all that much to tell. I have a mom and a dad, and I honestly spend most of my time in my room writing programs, when I'm not in school."

"What about your friends?" Miyuki asked. "They probably miss you. I mean, this is a whole government secret, so your parents are probably the only ones who know where you are."

"Yeah, that'd be a problem... if I actually had friends," Yumi admitted. "I always kept to myself, and since no one ever reached out to me, either, I just kinda end up alone on my laptop during lunch and no one to hand out with after class. It never really bothered me that much before, but now... I guess it sort of sucked. I mean, now that I actually have friends, I know what I've been missing all this time." She wiped a smudge off her glasses before putting them back on. "Your dads are probably worried sick. They didn't get the visit like we did, so they have no idea where you are."

The brunette stared at the ground. "Yeah," she whispered. "They probably think I ran away or something. Hell, I really doubt they'd believe me if I told them what I've really been up to."

"This _is_ a little unbelievable, isn't it?" Yumi asked. "We're probably the first people to ever set foot into the internet. Once we get rid of the Virus, I wonder what that will mean for the rest of the world. I mean, will a bunch of people be able to just pop in and out whenever they want? Will the technology become public use?"

"I'm more interested in what'll happen to the Digimon," Miyuki replied. "DemiDevimon commented that he missed his old home back in their world. Do you think they'll be able to find a way back, or will they be stuck here?"

The lavender haired girl thought for a moment. "Well," she said. "If they can't find a way on their own, once I'm out, I could probably program some kind of pathway or something."

"You could do that?" Miyuki asked. The pain was beginning to subside.

Yumi smiled. "Never underestimate my ability with a computer." She glanced over at Hana, who was talking with Renamon and Kiira. "You know, I think Hana was actually kind of worried about you when you ran off on your own."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah." A thought occurred to her. "Did you know that Digimon we fought, Chaosdromon?"

"Kind of," Miyuki began, twirling one of her pigtails. "When I was in the deep web, I got pulled into an empty tunnel even further down. It was like the normal one, but the numbers were red instead of green. The Virus we're after wanted a look at me, but it didn't want to reveal itself, I guess, so it used Chaosdromon as a puppet, instead. I don't know if it was the same one, but..."

"It still kind of freaked you out?" A nod. "I can understand that."

"The Virus also tried infecting me with some kind of virus," she admitted. "It wanted to control me, but the Spirit stopped it." She paused. "Don't tell Harusawa that. She'll probably say that 'part of it is still in me' and 'I'll turn on you any second' or some other bullshit."

Yumi frowned. "I don't think she hates you as much as she acts like she does." That earned a curious look. "She just has a lot of pride. She doesn't want to admit she's wrong, so she still acts the same. But I think that she really knows you're okay. Maybe if you give her some time, she'll wind down a little."

"I hope so," Miyuki said. "I'm sick of feeling like I'm walking on eggshells with her." She yawned. "We should probably get some sleep. You never know what tomorrow will bring..."

 **Next time:  
?: We finally meet, face to face.  
Yumi: No...  
Miyuki: Harusawa, move!  
Hana: What?  
Miyuki: **_**MOVE!**_

 **Oh, thank** _ **god**_ **. Next episode is the one I have planned out the most. I actually really do wanna write that one, and I've been waiting months to do so. I think next week is a good time to put it in though. I'll leave what the 'teaser' means to your imaginations for now.**

 **Also, I was sitting here, trying to figure out what I was going to put in after the battle, since there was still so much space to fill before realizing that I haven't given them any real down time. They've always been either fighting or walking. I mean, obviously, they've had some rest, but that's never been shown. But I thought I'd throw that in there. Hope it's not too boring for you. (This was, honestly, just a filler because I can't have the content of next episode happening** _ **too**_ **soon)**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	15. System Failure

**The episode I have been waiting** _ **forever**_ **to write! Welcome to episode 15, everyone~**

 _ **Yumi:**_ _"We wound up fighting a Mega level Digimon, Chaosdromon, after Miyuki left. Luckily, she showed up almost right after the battle started. Cerberumon was the one to do him in, filling him with fire to make him explode. Miyuki took us to a site she'd been in before to help us rest for awhile. But, with our luck, that rest won't last very long..."_

* * *

Kiira stretched as she stood, being the last to wake. "So, where to now?"

Hana thought for a moment. "Let's take a minute to go over what we know," she said. "Too much has been happening lately, we haven't really had time to think all this through."

"We don't really know all that much," Labramon admitted.

His partner nodded. "Basically, all we know is that a Virus exists that is trying to take over the internet, but we've known that since we got here."

"That's not everything we know," Renamon argued. "Thanks to Miyuki, we know that it's been here for a very long time. That means it's probably a lot stronger than we originally thought. We need to be careful on how we handle it, should we run into it before we're ready."

"That would be easier if we knew _what_ the Virus was," DemiDevimon muttered. "So, so far, I vote run like hell."

Miyuki nodded. "I'm gonna have to agree with him. There's no reason to throw our lives away. We see it, we run." She looked at Hana. "That okay with you?"

The blonde sighed. "Yeah. You're right. So, what else do we know?"

"We know that the Virus responsible has been sending out viruses to infect innocent Data Digimon and using them to attack us," Palmon pointed out. "And he's using some of the other Virus Digimon as puppets to come after us, too."

"But we can't go judging every Virus, either," Yumi added. "Remember BlackGatomon? She was good, even though she was a Virus." She paused. "And, from what I understand, all the Digimon pulled here are only here because a code was written that matches the data that comprises them in the Digital World."

Kiira thought for a moment. "Do you think someone _wrote_ this Virus we're after?" she finally asked.

She was met with silence for a few seconds. "I don't like the thought of that," Hana said. "Putting a human element in here makes it that much more complicated. If that were the case, and even if we manage to defeat this Virus, there's a good chance that whoever wrote this one can just as easily write another one, and then we'll really be screwed."

"We would need to find the person responsible as soon as we get out of here," Miyuki said with a nod. "However we're getting out of here, that is."

"Well," Yumi said. "The government agents that sent us in here are no doubt monitoring the situation regarding the Virus. So, when they see that it's gone, they'll probably use that machine to send us home."

The brunette frowned. "That's great for you," she began slowly. "But what about me? No one but you guys know I'm in here, and if I'm right, the Spirit isn't going to have enough energy to send me home. I could be stuck here."

"What if you guys just tell them she's in here as soon as you get out?" DemiDevimon asked. "I mean, it wouldn't be that hard, right?"

"Unless they're using the coding we were transferred in as to track us. We have no idea what our coding is, so it's not like we could just tell them Miyuki's," Yumi pointed out. "But... I could probably find some way to piece it together. Then we could get you out. You'd just have to be patient, and in the meantime, we can ask someone to go tell your parents."

The brunette sent her a grateful look, both for the offer and the fact that she didn't reveal Miyuki's specific family situation. "It might be a bit early to be thinking about that, though," she commented. "I mean, we won't have to worry about that until the time comes, and we're probably not getting out of here until the Virus is destroyed. That's what we're here for, right? And I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of just leaving before the job's done."

"Yeah," Kiira agreed. "I don't really want to pass this off to somebody else. It wouldn't seem right, they'd be starting from scratch. Everything we've done would be a moot point."

Hana nodded. "Alright," she said. "Let's head out, then. The longer we stand around here talking, now that we've covered the important stuff, the more time we're wasting that we _could_ be using to get more information and find some way to get closer to getting rid of the Virus." With that, she exited the cave, inching along the ledge, followed by the others. She stopped, however, when she saw someone was very wrong.

"What's the hold up?" DemiDevimon asked before taking off and flying over to Hana.

"The door is gone," the blonde said in slight disbelief.

Renamon thought for a moment. "We know that sometimes these pathways open suddenly. It only stands to reason that they could close and disappear just as suddenly."

"So we just have to wait around for it to open again?" Labramon asked, clearly annoyed.

"Looks like it," his partner said, a bit dismayed.

Miyuki glanced back where they had come from. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm heading back to the cave. I'm not going to just wait here when I could make one wrong move and fall to my death."

"I'm with Miyuki," Kiira said, following, and the others did, as well.

Once they were seated back in the cave, Miyuki leaned on the wall by the entrance, arms crossed. She had a feeling that Unimon might decide to check on them.

Sure enough, the airborne Digimon arrived. "Hello," he said.

"Hi," Palmon replied. "We're kind of stuck here for the moment... Do you know how we can get out?"

"Oh, I know," he replied. "It's not really safe out there for you to leave yet," Unimon continued. "The protector of this area sealed off the entrance so that you won't try to leave and end up getting yourselves killed."

Hana sighed. "Look, going out there is what we're _supposed_ to do while we're here. If it's getting dangerous out there, that's more the reason for us to go. We need to stop whatever's causing all this. Just keeping us here isn't helping anyone but the enemy."

Unimon frowned. "You'll have to take that up with out protector. I'll be right back." With that he left, returning moments later with a blue, bipedal dragon Digimon.

"Name: AeroVeedramon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: High."

"Hey," Miyuki told him. "We need to get out of here."

AeroVeedramon shook his head. "As I'm sure Unimon told you, it's too dangerous out there."

"I'll tell you the same thing I told him, then. We need to be out there, especially if it's dangerous, like you say it is. This is our job, and you're only helping whatever's out there by keeping us in here."

The Ultimate was silent for a moment. "Very well," he finally said. "I can only ask that you be careful."

"Of course," Renamon said with a nod.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

As soon as they stepped through the door, they felt cold. The tunnel around them seemed to spin, changing color as it did so. When it finally stopped, the black had turned to white. The binary was gone. Instead, there were pulsing blue lights forming intricate patterns all around them.

"Where do you think we are now?" Hana asked Yumi, turning to the lavender haired girl.

She shook her head. "I... honestly have no idea..." she confessed. "I'm sorry."

"You're in _my_ domain now," a voice spoke, seeming to come from every direction.

Miyuki's eyes widened. "Holy shit..." she muttered.

"What?" Hana asked.

"This is the same voice I heard before, the one that was using Chaosdromon as a puppet." She shivered. "I think we've just met the Virus..."

In response to her voice, shadows began to appear around them, taking form. They were easily recognizable.

There was a BlackGuilmon, Dracmon, Shurimon, Gazimon, Meramon, Birdramon, Centarumon, Devimon, Guardromon, Dokugumon, Arukenimon, Lilamon, MarineDevimon, Etemon, Scorpiomon, Flymon, Okuwamon, and Chaosdromon.

"Holy shit..." Labramon whispered.

"I think this is almost every Digimon, Virus and virus-infected Data that we've fought while we've been here," Kiira said in disbelief.

"Only one thing to do," Miyuki said, already taking out her Digivice. "We take them all out again." With that, she clicked it open.

"DemiDevimon Warp Digivolve to... Phantomon!"

"Renamon Warp Digivolve to... Taomon!"

"Labramon Warp Digivolve to... Cerberumon!"

"Palmon Warp Digivolve to... Lillymon!"

"Shadow Scythe!" Phantomon yelled, swinging his scythe down at some of the shadow-Digimon. They disappeared into wisps of black mist upon contact. He looked back to the others. "They're just illusions!" he yelled.

"Spider Thread!" shadow-Arukenimon yelled, her attack hitting Lillymon, sending the flying plant spinning through the air a few times before righting herself.

The Ultimate glared. "Illusions that can still hit pretty hard! Let's take these guys out quick! Flower Cannon!"

"Talisman of Light!"

"Emerald Blaze!"

All the other shadow Digimon disappeared, but the shadow-Chaosdromon managed to move away in time.

"Hyper Attack!" it yelled, firing at Phantomon. The hit sent him back several feet. Despite not being real, the attack still felt as though the real thing had fired it.

Taomon raised her brush. "Talisman of Light!" Once it was gone, she turned to the wounded, but quickly recovering Phantomon. It appeared that the effects of the shadow attacks disappeared after just a few moments. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine," he reassured her with a nod.

Now that they had finished off their shadow opponents, they looked around, but they saw only the scenery around them. There was still no sign of their true attacker.

"What was the point of that?" Hana asked. "That was easier than anything we've ever done."

Miyuki crossed her arms. "It was to wear us down a little." She looked to their partners. "I mean, sure, they didn't use a _lot_ of energy, but they're going to need everything they have, and maybe more, if we're going to make it out of this battle alive. And this thing knows it, too. I'm pretty sure this was his plan, all along. Wear us down before showing his own ugly mug."

"Very perceptive," the same voice spoke. Dark bits of data came together to form a Digimon above them, seeming to stand on an invisible platform. It was brown and blue, with long arms ending in pale maroon claws. He had large, dark blue pauldrons on each of his shoulders.

"Name: Diaboromon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Critical."

"That's the first 'critical' we've got..." Kiira whispered.

Due to the distance, they couldn't see his expression, but the evil smirk was clear in his voice when he spoke. "We finally meet, face to face."

"Yeah," Hana said. "We do."

"How did you even get here?" Palmon asked. "The rest of us were either pulled in here by you, or our coding matched something the humans programmed you. What program got you stuck in here?"

Diaboromon shook his head. "I'm afraid you're mistaken. I never came from the Digital World. I was programmed straight into this world's internet."

"So you _were_ made by a hacker..." Yumi whispered. "Who was it? Who programmed you?"

There was a long pause, and the smirk was back in the Mega's voice. "Don't you recognize your own creation?"

Time seemed to stop as his words sunk in.

"No..." she finally said. "That's... that's not possible. I would never... I didn't..."

"Four years ago," he stated. "That was when I was programmed. When _you_ brought me into this world, Yumi Orihara."

She was about to deny it when a thought occurred to her. She remembered. Young, eleven year old Yumi had wanted to see if she could create the ultimate virus. She was never going to send it anywhere, she just wanted to see if she could do it. She thought she hadn't... "You were already gone..." she said. "When I went to check again, there was nothing. I thought I failed. But you... you jumped into the internet." And then it hit her like a bus. "This is my fault... All of the troubles the Real World has been having because of this... the Digimon getting pulled in here from their home... all of the innocent Data Digimon that were forced to attack us and their friends... Leomon... All of it was my fault..."

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault," Miyuki told her, though her hardened gaze was fixed on Diaboromon. "You had no idea what was going to happen. Saying it was your fault would be like saying it was the Wright Brothers' fault that the World Trade Center was taken out in America. If you had _meant_ for some evil Virus to take over the internet and trap us all here, okay, yeah, it would be your fault. But it's not." She finally locked eyes with the lavender haired girl. "And if you still feel responsible... you can make up for it by helping us take out this freak."

Cerberumon nodded at his partner. "She's right, you know," he told her. "So come on. Let's get to work."

"Thousand Spells!" Taomon yelled, attacking first. The talismans appeared around their opponent, but he showed no reaction when they detonated. He simply waved away the smoke, jumping from his invisible ledge to the ground. He wasn't as large as they had been expecting him to be, maybe twice as tall as Taomon, if that.

He tilted his head in an almost taunting manner. "Is that the best you've got?" he asked mockingly.

Phantomon glared, raising his scythe. "Shadow Scythe!" he yelled, but as the blade came down, Diaboromon's arm shot out, blocking it by hitting the staff, causing it to go flying.

"Cable Crusher!" he yelled in retaliation, attacking the Ultimate with his claws. Almost immediately, Phantomon was sent flying just like his weapon before returning to his Rookie form, too weak to continue the fight.

"DemiDevimon!" Miyuki yelled, running over to her partner, who had luckily landed far enough away from the battle. "You okay?"

"Been better," he admitted.

Lillymon flew above Diaboromon, putting her arms together. "Flower Cannon!" she yelled. To her surprise, he reached a hand up and caught the blast, crushing it in his fist.

"Cable Crusher!" he attacked, attacking her as he had done to Phantomon. Similarly, she was forced into her own Rookie form when she landed. Taomon didn't even get the chance to raise her brush before she was targeted, as well. "Cable Crusher!" the Mega called out again. The result was the same as the others.

Hana ran over to her partner, noticing Kiira already by her own partner's side. "Renamon, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine," the yellow fox said weakly. "I just... need a moment."

Cerberumon growled a little to himself. He looked back at Yumi, who was still in shock about the bomb Diaboromon had dropped on them all. He agreed with Miyuki, Yumi wasn't to blame, but the hacker wasn't convinced. Looks like he'd be doing this on his own.

"Emerald Blaze!" he yelled.

Diaboromon had no reaction to green inferno surrounding him. All he did was wave a hand and the flames died immediately. "Cable Crusher!"

Yumi finally snapped out of it and ran to Labramon's side as soon as he landed. "No..." she whispered, convinced that her partner's wounds were her fault.

"And now, to take care of the rest of you."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yue Tachikawa looked up from the monitors. She had been keeping track of the data signals she'd been getting from the girls and their anti-viruses. They'd been fluctuating a lot, but the signals from the anti-viruses were at an all time low. Something had to be wrong...

"Sir?" she said. Her boss, Daichi Kagurazawa, looked over. "We have a problem."

"What is it?" he asked, walking around the large console to look at her monitor. There was a large screen filling the wall behind them, showing a world map. The landmasses had initially all been red, but many parts were now black. This showed areas that had been affected by this mysterious super virus his people had been tasked with monitoring.

The woman pointed to the small screen in front of her with a pen. "I think they're in trouble," she said. "If their protection is this weak, this could be very bad. These girls are in danger."

"It was a mistake to send children..." he whispered, mentally chastising himself for putting young lives in danger. "Do you have a lock on them?"

"I do," Yue replied.

"Get them out of there."

Yue nodded, already beginning to type. It was a complicated process to initiate the program to bring the girls back from the internet. It would take some time. She and Daichi just hoped that they would last that long.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"I knew we weren't ready..." Yumi whispered. "We're not going to make it..."

"We have to," Hana said, trying to convince not only the others, but herself, as well. "So many people are counting on us. If we fail..."

"Let's not use the word fail," Miyuki commented.

Diaboromon gave an amused chuckle. "Your partners are useless. What do you think you, mere humans, will be able to do against me?"

Miyuki was about to respond when another feeling hit her. This one was worse than anything she'd ever felt before. Something _very_ bad was about to happen. And it was about to happen to Hana.

Even before the Mega raised his arms, the brunette yelled, "Harusawa, move!"

Hana looked over at her, not understanding. "What?" she asked.

" _MOVE!_ " Before anyone could react, Miyuki was running.

As soon as she reached the blonde, she pushed her out of the way just as Diaboromon called out, "System Failure!"

A black sphere, crackling with energy, flew from his hand, hitting Miyuki in the ribcage. Her eyes widened as the pain hit. The others watched in stunned silence as she slowly began to disappear, data streaming off of her, starting in her legs, slowly working its way up. In a matter of moments, Miyuki Otori was gone.

"No!" Hana yelled. The other girl had just taken a hit, a _fatal_ hit, to save her life, and she paid the price for it. She clenched her fists. There had to be something she could—

Her train of thought was cut off when an odd sensation came over her. It felt the same as when they had been sent into the internet. She looked to the others to see that they were fading, and looking down at her hands, she saw that she was, as well.

They were going home.

 **Next time:  
Daichi: I don't understand. There was another person in there with you?  
Kiira: Yeah. But now she's gone...  
Hana: We need to find her parents. They need to know what happened.  
Yue: Did you learn anything about the Virus that could help us?  
Yumi: ...**

 **Oh my god! I have been wanting to write this since the concept of Digimon Hacked! first came to mind. Now, I know Diaboromon is kind of a standard, already used, villain, but I have a reason. Whenever I think of a Digimon that could be considered 'the ultimate computer virus', I think Diaboromon. This is probably because of the movies.**

 **And be honest. Were any of you able to guess that Yumi was behind our big bad?**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	16. Ejected

**I know you've all been waiting with bated breath for this since the last episode. I hope it doesn't disappoint~ Also, since the very first scene is wordless, the background music would be the lullaby version of the vocaloid song, Meltdown.**

 _ **Hana:**_ _"We finally found out what our real enemy is. It's a Digimon called Diaboromon, and apparently, Yumi was the one who created him. We were fighting him, but we weren't ready. He took our partners down with no problem, and he was about to kill me, but... Otori pushed me out of the way and took the hit instead. Now she's gone, and we've just been pulled back into the Real World. I have no idea what we're supposed to do now..."_

* * *

 _It wasn't looking good. There was a good chance they were going to die. The Digimon had been reduced to their Rookie forms, and it didn't look like they were getting up any time soon. Hana was going through so many different ways they might be able to get out of this, though every scenario failed. It took her a moment to understand what Otori was saying, and the next thing she knew, it was almost as though life had started playing in slow motion. Otori was running. Diaboromon thrust an attack of some sort at Hana. She could feel the hands on her shoulder, pushing her._

 _When she looked back at the brunette, stunned, the girl was frozen in place. It took a moment for Hana to realize that Otori was slowly disappearing. She was dying. She took a hit that had been meant for Hana._

 _She saved the blonde's life, and paid for it with her own..._

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"...na? Hana? Are you okay?"

The girl in question blinked a few times, being pulled out of her thoughts. "Hm?" she asked dully.

The woman in front of her, Yue Tachikawa, was one of the women who worked for the government agency that had sent them to the internet and brought them back. "Did something happen in there?"

The blonde bit her lip. She didn't know if she could say it out loud. She glanced at the other two girls, who were being looked over by two other people. Yumi seemed just as upset as she was, no doubt because she had been the creator of their problem.

Kiira, however, managed to catch her eye, and as soon as she was done being checked out, she walked over to them. "There's a lot we need to tell you."

Yue nodded in acknowledgement before beckoning Daichi Kagurazaka, the head of the agency, over. He needed to hear this.

"While we were in the internet, just before you brought us back out, we lost someone," she said.

Daichi paused. "I don't understand," he finally said. "There was another person in there with you?"

Kiira nodded. "Yeah," she confirmed. "But now she's gone..." She didn't miss the way Hana winced slightly, clenching her fists. "Everything else... Can we go over that later? We've... been through a lot, and we kinda need to get our bearings."

"I understand," Daichi said with a nod. "Let us know when you're ready."

"Thank you."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yumi looked blankly down at her hands in her lap. So much was going on. She wasn't sure how to even begin processing it all. First was the fact that she had managed to create a Virus that threatened the lives of everyone on the planet. If his influence spread far enough, hospital equipment could fail. Fire alarms, radar... He might even be able to take over the controls of nuclear missiles and other weapons of mass destruction given time.

And all that blood would be on her hands...

"They're alone in there, now," Kiira commented softly. "I mean, I hate to bring the mood down even more, but... What's going to happen to them if we're not there to help?"

The lavender haired girl's brown eyes widened. She hadn't even thought of that. He fists clenched and she felt something in her pocket. That was where she kept her... Very slowly, she pulled out the small box that served as her Digivice. An idea was already forming and she examined the sides, finally finding a panel that slid back to reveal some sort of port.

"Someone give me access to a computer!" she called out. "Now!"

"What?" one of the men asked, a but stunned at the sudden outburst from the previously somber teen.

Yumi didn't answer him. Instead, she turned back to the other two. "I might be able to bring them here. We can still save our partners."

"What?" Kiira asked, echoing the confused government worker.

The hacker turned to Yue. "You programmed our anti-viruses, right?" she asked, remembering that their partners had been pulled from the Digital World because their coding matched that that had been written to protect them.

"Yes," Yue replied with a nod. "We were monitoring them, and it was when their signals were weak that we decided to bring you back here."

"I need to know those codes," Yumi said. "And I need them now." She took out her Digivice before taking a common USB cord from a drawer, plugging one end in the computer and the other in the small device in her hand. She smiled a little when it opened and the orb inside let out a soft light.

"What are you doing?" Kiira asked, walking over to try to get a better view of what she was doing.

Without looking up, the hacker replied, "I think I can get our partners out of the internet and store them in our Digivices. "That way, they can be safe from Diaboromon while we try to figure out what we're going to do next."

Despite the situation, the dark haired girl gave a small smile. With Yumi throwing herself into her work like this, she was able to have something to focus on, more than just her self-placed blame. "Anything we can do to help?"

"Just put your Digivice on the desk, and give me Hana's. I'll get to work grabbing Palmon and Renamon as soon as I can figure out how to transfer Labramon."

"Got it."

Yumi pushed her glasses up as they began sliding down before looking at a woman on a nearby computer. "Hey!" she called, grabbing the woman's attention. "I need you to set up a strong firewall for the whole system while I do this." She looked back at the screen in front of her. "We can't let him follow them out here..." she added to herself.

Daichi walked over. "What are you doing?" he asked, having heard her yell for the woman to make the firewall.

"Please, I know these are your people, but this is really important, and I _need_ them to do what I'm asking," Yumi said. "Those anti-viruses you programmed us were just as sentient as the Virus you sent us in to take care of. They're our friends, and they're in there by themselves now. And when you pulled us out, we were in a lot of trouble."

Daichi studied her face for a moment. The determination was clear. She wasn't going to let anyone stand in her way. "Very well," he agreed. He might be handing some power over to a teenager, but this teenager could probably rival any of his employees in skill level, and she knew more about the situation than they did.

"Thank you, sir," Yumi said with a small smile before turning her attention back to her work.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Kiira frowned when she saw that Hana was still in the same state she'd been in when they first arrived. The two girls have both given their Digivices over to Yumi so that she could bring their partners back as soon as she was done with her own, but for the moment, that left the other two girls with nothing to do. Meaning Hana was more than likely drawn into her own thoughts about what happened to Miyuki again.

"It wasn't your fault," the dark haired girl told her friend.

"Yes, it was," Hana replied quietly. "She did it to save me. If I had just moved when she..." She clenched her fists. "But I froze. And she had to push me, but she didn't get away in time." She stopped, taking a moment to attempt to compose herself. She didn't want to start crying. "We need to find her parents," she finally said. "They need to know what happened. As far as they know, she's a runaway. And they'll just keep thinking that. They need to know..." Her voice got quiet. "They need to know she isn't coming back..."

Kiira nodded softly. "I'll go and see if someone can look into that, okay?"

The blonde nodded. "Tell me when you do."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yuji Otori was sitting on the couch, holding a picture in his hands. It had been taken four years ago, of him, his husband Masato, Miyuki, and their late cat, Nono. It had become a habit of his for the last several weeks, ever since he had come home to find the teen gone. He and Masato had waited for two days, hoping she would come back on her own, but she never did. She hadn't taken anything with her, or even left a note. It was like she just... vanished.

Masato was, as usual, these days, locked in his study, trying to distract himself via his work. They knew they probably needed to be there for each other, but right now, they each had their own ways of coping.

Yuji's head shot up when he heard a knock on the door. He doubted it was Miyuki, since she would have used the key behind the wall-mounted mailbox, but maybe it was someone with news about her.

A woman and a teenage girl stood on the doorstep.

"Hello," the woman said. "My name is Yue Tachikawa, and this is Hana Harusawa. We have... some news about your daughter. May we come in?"

He didn't like the way she was saying that. It was clear that whatever she had to tell him, it was bad news. "Of course," he said, stepping out of the way. "One moment." He stepped into the hall and knocked on Masato's office door. "Masato," he said. "There are some people here who say they have news about Miyuki." A moment later, the door was open.

"Alright, what happened to Miyuki?" Masato asked immediately once they all sat down.

Yue paused. "This is going to be hard to believe, at first, so please have an open mind. You know about the viruses that have been spreading through all the computers in the country?"

"Yes," Yuji said slowly, unsure of what this might have to do with Miyuki.

"Well, I work for a special government task force," she stated. "We were put in charge of monitoring this virus, and we sent three girls in to take care of it."

Hana spoke up. "It was just me and two other girls at first," she started. "But then we ran into her. I don't really know how she got there, but she did." She wasn't really sure she could explain about the Spirit of the Internet, since she, admittedly, didn't really understand it much, herself. "She's been with us for awhile. We just got back." She felt a wave of guilt pass over her when she saw the hopeful expressions of the two men in front of her. "But..." she continued, hating to be the bearer of bad news, but knowing it had to done. "Right before we left, we were in a very dangerous situation. _I_ was in a very dangerous situation, especially, and she..." The blonde closed her eyes, once again attempting to compose herself. "She saved me, but she didn't make it." She tried to hide the thickness she felt in her throat as her eyes became damp. She refused to cry. She wouldn't make herself the victim. This wasn't about her. This was about the brave girl who gave everything for what she thought was right. "I'm so, so sorry. She... she isn't coming back."

Yuji and Masato were silent for a very long time. It was a lot of information to process. They knew that there had been a huge, nationwide virus problem, and they didn't doubt that there was a government agency set up to try to put a stop to it. It was hard to imagine Miyuki being any part of it, though.

After several minutes, Masato finally said, "Thank you for coming to us." He sighed. "Now we won't be waiting forever for her to come home..."

"Masato..." Yuji said, trying to stop the bitter tirade he knew his husband was about to start.

"Now we know that she's gone for good," he continued as thought Yuji hadn't tried to stop him. "Now we know she's never coming back, because she isn't here, or in the internet, or anywhere else anymore. So _thank_ you, for taking any hope we ever had away."

Yuji glared. "Masato," he repeated, this time with a warning tone. He was hurting just as much as Masato was over the news, but this was not the way to handle it. He turned to Yue and Hana. "Thank you, really, for letting us know."

"If you ever need anything," Yue began, standing and handing the philosophy teacher a business card. "Feel free to call us any time."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"How's it going?" Kiira asked, watching Yumi work. She had disconnected her Digivice from the computer and had just plugged in Kiira's.

"It's complicated, but I managed to get Labramon back," she replied. "But now that I've got it all down, it shouldn't take as long to bring Palmon and Renamon here."

Kiira nodded in acknowledgement before a thought hit her. "And... what about DemiDevimon?"

Yumi abruptly stopped typing. "I... don't have anything to put him in, and besides, we don't have his code. I have no idea how to find him in the first place." She sighed. "As much as I hate to say it... there's no way I can get him out." She raised a brow when she turned back to the screen. "That's weird..."

"What is?" Kiira asked, looking at the screen, but she wasn't quite sure what she was seeing.

"I was just working on getting Renamon's data together, but a bunch of extra data just... added to it, somehow. It has the same abnormalities as our partners."

The dark haired girl paused. "You think...?"

Yumi nodded. "I do. I'm pretty sure DemiDevimon managed to somehow attach himself to Renamon." She smiled. "Looks like I _can_ get him out. I'll just need a bit more time."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Daichi sat in his office, Kiira and Hana sitting across from him, his desk in between. Yumi was still busy with her 'project', but he was sure the information would be relayed to her later.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I decided to send you into the internet," he spoke.

Kiira nodded. "Yeah. Why send kids when you could have some trained operatives go in, instead?"

"At the time, children seemed like a better idea," he admitted. "We didn't think it would be as dangerous as it was. Children's minds are much more flexible than those of adults, and you are far more creative than we are. Solutions that we may not see very easily would be quite clear to you. Adding to that, children are typically much more familiar with the internet than adults are." He closed his eyes. "Again, we had no idea what kind of dangers you would face. Had we known, we would have left you out of it, and trained some of our own people and sent them in, instead. I am sorry for your loss, I truly am."

Hana's fists clenched once again as Miyuki's death ran through her mind. Kiira put a hand on her shoulder. "It was probably better that it was us, anyway," she told her. "No matter who was sent this way, she'd still be brought in, anyway. At least she had people her own age to hang around with and fight beside."

Daichi looked at the girls. "I am sorry if this is too soon for you, but we need to know what happened. What did you find?"

"The Virus _was_ intelligent, like you thought," Hana said, trying to push down her feelings for the moment. As long as they were talking business, she might be able to keep the personal element out of it. She could forget about the brunette for the moment. "So were a lot of the smaller Viruses it sent, and even the anti-viruses you programmed for us were, too. They're these things called Digimon, and they come from a place called the Digital World." She left out the fact that Diaboromon was created right in the internet. "They were drawn in here because some of the coding of different programs matched them. That's what the real danger was. Some of the Viruses were sent by the main one, Diaboromon, and we had to fight those."

Kiira nodded. "And sometimes, he sent out these viruses to infect the different ones that were more peaceful, and we had to fight those, too."

The conversation was cut off when the door opened and Yumi walked through, carrying the three Digivices. "Good news," she reported. Realizing there was a bit of a meeting going on, she added, "Sorry." She handed the devices to her friends. "I got them back. They're safe in here. But we need to go back. I'm pretty sure we're the only ones now who can take out Diaboromon." The other teens knew that a large part of her reasoning for that was that she was still feeling guilty about creating the ultimate Virus.

Daichi looked at her for a moment, taking in her determined expression. "Very well," he said. "I'll have someone set up the machine to send you back."

"Thank you, sir," Yumi said. She looked at Hana. "Also, Renamon managed to find a way to save DemiDevimon." She nodded at the purple and yellow box in the blonde's hand. "She got him out, and now he's in there with her."

Hana smiled a fraction. At least they managed to save one of them...

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yue finished typing on the computer connected to the large machine. "There, it should be—"

She was cut off by the sparks coming out of the machine. "Oh, dear..." she whispered. She immediately pulled up the program running it. "Something's wrong, but... I can't figure out what."

Yumi thought for a moment. It clicked. "We're probably stuck here for awhile..."

"What do you mean?" Hana asked.

The hacked bit her lip. She really hoped she was wrong, but she doubted she was. "I think something followed us out."

 **Next time:  
Kiira: So you're saying we can't get back?  
Yumi: That's right.  
Hana: Then what are we supposed to do?  
Palmon: Hope it finds a way out here, too, I guess.  
Labramon: What are you doing?  
Yumi: Well, when data gets deleted, it's never really gone for good. Especially if it's just dispersed. It had to go somewhere.  
Labramon: What are you saying?  
Yumi: I think I can bring her back.**

 **Welp, there you have it. No real battle in this one, but the events of this episode are pretty important. I like the way it turned out. I hope this answers the questions some of you had about why they sent children into the 'net.**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**

e finished typing on the computer connected to the large machine. "There, it should be-s ."

emiDevimon." She nodded at the w


	17. Real World Problems

**Alright, so updates here are now kinda weird (for me, anyway). I have a class on Wednesdays now that goes until 8:00 PM. I know I usually update late anyway, but now, I don't have 5-8 to work on it. And to add to that, I can't access the campus wi-fi, for some reason, so I can't update during my three hours that I have free. So... yeah. Also, at the end of last episode... I have absolutely no idea what the hell happened there. Sorry. It was some bizarre typo, and I have no idea how it got there. Anyway, without further ado~**

 _ **Yumi:**_ _"We wound up back on Earth, but our partners were still stuck in the internet. Luckily, I managed to get them out, storing them in our Digivices until we can get back. The problem is, we don't know how. Somehow, Diaboromon, or some other Virus he sent, followed us out and screwed up the machine that sent us in before and brought us back. We need to figure out something, fast, or we're all screwed."_

* * *

"So you're saying we can't get back?" Kiira asked with a frown. This definitely wasn't good. If they couldn't get back, they couldn't finish what they were sent to do. They couldn't save the internet. If they couldn't get back... then Diaboromon had won.

Yumi sighed. She didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but... "That's right," she informed the group. "We're stuck here."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Hana asked, staring at the malfunctioning machine. She couldn't help but he glad that the issue had been caught before they were sent it. She had no idea what would have happened to her and the others if the machine had broken while they were in the middle of transport. She was very glad she didn't have to find out.

The girls glanced down in curiosity when Kiira's Digivice popped open and a small holographic image of Palmon appeared. "Hope it finds a way out of here, too, I guess," she said, adding to the conversation.

"I didn't know they could do that," Kiira said after a moment. She looked at Yumi. "Did you know they could do that?"

The hacker shook her head. "No clue," she admitted.

Hana ignored them, looking down at Palmon. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"If it finds a way out here, or something like that, then maybe we can figure out how to do it, too," she suggested, motioning to the Digivice. "And if we get out of here, maybe we can take care of whatever comes through. Maybe Diaboromon will take the fight to us, but maybe we can be ready."

The blonde thought for a moment. "It could work..." she muttered. "The only problem is that we would have to wait for the enemy to make the first move." Her Digivice opened, and Renamon appeared just as Palmon had, though DemiDevimon was perched on her shoulder, much like he had done with his human partner.

"While we may need to wait until Diaboromon comes after us, we can come up with some sort of plan of attack," Renamon suggested. "We can still be prepared."

"We need to take him out," DemiDevimon growled. "No one else is getting hurt."

Hana paused to look at the small Virus. She had been wracked with guilt about Miyuki saving her. She hadn't even thought of what would be going through DemiDevimon's mind throughout the whole ordeal. He was the brunette's partner. He must have felt useless, sitting on the sidelines as his partner was... And now he lost his best friend. "You're right," she told him. "She's gone, but what she didn't isn't going to be for nothing."

"Damn straight."

Kiira looked at Yumi. "Do you think you could, I don't know, isolate it or something?"

"I might know Diaboromon's basic code," she said softly to avoid anyone else hearing. It was an unspoken rule that her involvement in the Virus's creation would never be mentioned to anyone else. "But he's been growing over the years. Remember, he's been gathering power for _four_ years... I might be able to find the code I know, but with so much added to it, there's no way he wouldn't know what I was doing before I would be able to finish."

"Dammit..." Kiira muttered. She looked to their leader. "So, what do we do?"

"We wait," Hana replied. The dark haired girl was about to protest when she added, "I don't like it any more than you do, but what other choice do we have?" Kiira didn't have an answer to that.

"I don't like having to just sit here and twiddle our thumbs," Labramon grumbled, having appeared from Yumi's Digivice.

Yumi glanced down at her partner, pushing up her glasses. "Neither do I," she told him. "But we _just_ went over why we have to." The Rookie grumbled again incoherently.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Hana looked up abruptly when the power began to flicker.

"What's going on?" one of the workers asked, clearly concerned.

Yumi looked at the computer as it slowly went back online. This wasn't right... "These are high tech, state of the art computers. They shouldn't be lagging this bad," she muttered to herself. Her eyes widened slightly. Something was drawing power from the servers. From the looks of it, something big. "Guys," she called to the others. "Remember how we're waiting for the enemy to make its move?"

"Yeah?" Kiira asked, already suspecting what her friend was going to say.

"It made its move."

"Shit..." Hana muttered, looking at the various computers as they tried to boot up. "The question is, what's it doing?"

Renamon's holographic form frowned. "Something tells me we're about to find out."

Light gathered in the air in front of them, flowing from the computer to form a transparent woman-like figure with pale skin and white hair, with red eyes and clad in black.

"Name: LadyDevimon. Classification: Virus. Threat: High."

Yue looked from the Digimon projection to the girls. "I assume this is one of those Digimon you were talking about?" she asked. Hana merely nodded, stunned at the Ultimate's ability to take a form in the Real World.

"How the hell...?" Kiira asked.

Renamon studied their Virus opponent. "I believe she's using the power of the computers around us to take a form."

LadyDevimon tilted her head in a taunting manner, slowly dragging a claw through one of the monitors. The screen cracked and smoke poured out of it.

Hana looked at Daichi, who had just stepped out of his office. "I'm sorry," she told him. "But we might need to use some of your computer power, too, if we're going to take this thing down."

Daichi rubbed his temples. Over the course of the past few hours, he had taken several orders from a group of teenagers, but they knew what they were doing much more than he or his employees did. "Very well."

Hana grabbed her Digivice, Kiira and Yumi doing the same. Each clicked the boxes open, and power was drawn from the remaining computers around them, as well as the lights. When the auxiliary lights turned on, four new transparent figures had appeared.

"We have to be careful about this," Renamon said calmly. "There's a good chance we'll have the same effect of electronics that LadyDevimon has."

"So basically, take her out quick, and don't touch anything?" DemiDevimon asked. The fox Digimon nodded. "Alright then. Demi Dart!"

LadyDevimon knocked the syringe away with the back of her clawed hand. Once it bounced off, it vanished into specks of data. "Darkness Wave!" she yelled, aiming at the group of Rookies. The attack slammed into them, sending DemiDevimon flying, knocking Palmon and Labramon down, and making Renamon fall to one knee. She looked up with an icy glare before mustering the strength to stand. Even though it was four against one, she wasn't fond of the odds. From the looks of it, neither was her partner. They needed a way to end this quickly, but this building didn't have enough power to hold them together if they Digivolved. It barely had enough to handle four Rookies as it was.

An idea hit the Rookie and she looked to the other Digimon who were now getting back up. She hoped they understood her intentions with her expression. From their nods, it was clear that they did.

"Good luck," Labramon told her before he, Palmon, and DemiDevimon disappeared back into the Digivices.

"What are they doing...?" Kiira asked.

"I think I know," Hana said before the lights turned on for a split second before shutting down again. Renamon began to glow, so it was clear that the energy had gone to her to help.

"Renamon Warp Digivolve to... Taomon!"

"You think you can take me, all by yourself?" LadyDevimon asked, raising a brow. "When you're far too afraid of touching any of these?" To emphasize her point, the Virus ran her hand through several monitors, destroying them upon contact. "Hate to break it to you, hun, but we're dangerous to this world. We draw on the power of their electronics, it's the only way we can stay out here." Her gaze drifted up from her handiwork to Taomon. "They can't handle us."

Taomon's eyes narrowed, summoning her giant calligraphy brush. "Talisman of Light!" She sent the attack LadyDevimon's way, but the other Ultimate merely moved out of the way, causing the move to his another computer, destroying it.

LadyDevimon laughed. "My, my. Who knew you would have such a talent in destruction?" She raised an arm. "Darkness Wave!"

Taomon was about to move out of the way when she saw the girls behind her. If she moved, they would directly in the line of attack. Crossing her arms in front of her face to brace herself, Taomon took the brunt of the attack, shaking it off as best she could. Calligraphy brush gone, she yelled, "Thousand Spells!"

LadyDevimon began to move when she found herself frozen. "What...?" she whispered before looking around her to see herself surrounded by countless talismans before the each detonated in small explosions that didn't touch the equipment around them. LadyDevimon was gone in a matter of moments, and immediately, Taomon disappeared, light flowing from her disintegrating body to Hana's open Digivice. After a moment the main power came back.

"Holy shit..." Kiira said, vocalizing everyone's thoughts.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

"That thing... That was a Digimon?" Daichi asked. The destroyed equipment had been moved to see if anything could be repaired, and everyone was already back to work on the remaining computers.

"That's right," Hana confirmed.

"And the other creatures, they were Digimon, too?"

"Right," the blonde said. "But they're on our side. LadyDevimon won't be bothering you anytime soon."

Yumi looked up from the computer connected to the transfer machine, which had somehow not been affected by LadyDevimon's appearance. Other than having shut down during the power drain, nothing seemed to be wrong with it.

Hana frowned. "I don't like that look," she said. "What is it?"

"You're right that we don't have to worry about LadyDevimon anymore," the lavender haired girl said softly. "But we're not out of the woods yet. Not even close."

"What do you mean?"

"The virus Diaboromon sent after us wasn't LadyDevimon." The leader gave her a quizzical look. "In fact, it wasn't a Digimon at all. He sent us a Trojan horse."

Kiira turned toward her. "What does that mean?"

Preparing to give her mini-lecture, the hacker adjusted her glasses. "A Trojan horse is a virus that can put data into some other computer that you don't want, but you don't realize it's there. Usually, they're those viruses you get when you click links in weird, unknown emails. It probably created a back door." At their confused looked, she continued, "In computing, a back door allows a second party to look at any data on your machine." She sighed. "Diaboromon studied the program that brought us back."

"But that was only to bring back humans," Yue stated. "It couldn't bring anything originally made of data into the Real World."

"Maybe not, but..." Her eyes widened. This was her fault, too... "He was paying attention when I transferred our partners into our Digivices. He knows how to move data from the internet." She closed her eyes. "He used _my_ program to make the Viruses he sends draw power from the electronics around them to make them appear here. And they destroy what they touch because direct contact makes the energy flow to them faster than the machine can handle."

"So, you're saying he could send another Digimon back to our world at any time?" Daichi asked, unnerved at the thought.

"Can't you just debug the computer? Get his Trojan out and change the program or something?" Kiira asked.

"It's not that simple..." Yumi frowned. "I just looked. He found a way to keep changing the code. As soon as I would be able to isolate it, he'd change it again and I'd have to start all over."

"A big game of cat and mouse," Hana commented.

The bespectacled girl nodded slightly. "Yeah. But this mouse isn't going down easily. I'll find some way of stopping him." _I have to_ , she added mentally. _I made him. Diaboromon is my responsibility._

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Diaboromon smirked to himself. Everything was going according to plan. His creator had found his Trojan, but he knew that despite the girl's impeccable hacking skills, she would never be able to get rid of it. He knew how to work around her. After all, she made him.

He enjoyed seeing her squirm. He knew she felt a lot of guilt for their entire situation, just like that blonde human felt about the demise of the brunette.

The Virus had to admit he'd been surprised to see the Digimon he'd been about to destroy disappear, but that was what had made him even more determined to find them out of the internet. And he did. He had a way of getting back at them.

Diaboromon had little doubt that he would be able to draw enough power to allow himself to appear in the Real World, but he preferred to taunt the humans. They would come to him eventually, but the pieces weren't set up yet, so he couldn't let them return at the moment.

The he'd sent after them into the machine that had brought them there still had a hold on it, and with the Spirit of the Internet out of commission, the humans would have no way back to the internet until he decided it was time.

They would be back eventually. But, by then, they would wish they had stayed away.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Yumi barely glanced up as people began slowly leaving the room, obviously heading home. Shortly after, it was only her and the other girls, Daichi in his office.

"Hey, it's time to head home," Hana told her. "Are you coming?"

"You go ahead," she said, focused on the screen in front of her. "I'll get a ride home. I have to ask something, anyway."

Hana nodded. "Alright. Let us know when you get home safe." She paused. "Just, don't email," she added jokingly.

Yumi offered a half-hearted smile before they turned and left. She headed up to Daichi's office.

"You haven't gone home yet?" he asked in slight surprise.

"No," she admitted. "I was actually wondering if I could take one of the company laptops home with me. They run a lot faster and have a lot more power than mine at home. I feel like I would be able to do a much better job studying the enemy and figuring out how to stop him on a more advanced machine. I promise to be careful, and to use it for work only."

The man thought for a moment. Ever since she had arrived, this teen had proved to be one of the best hackers he'd ever known. "I'll get you one of the newer ones," he said. Those didn't have any of the classified files hidden on them. There would be nothing for her to find that she shouldn't.

"Thank you, sir."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

After a reunion with her parents, Yumi shut herself in her room, immediately booting up the laptop. The first thing she did was set up a strong firewall. It may not keep Diaboromon out indefinitely, but it would definitely slow him down.

While she was working, she clicked open her Digivice, letting the small holographic image of her partner appear.

"What's up?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I missed having someone to talk to." She glanced at him. "And besides. You're my best friend." As soon as the firewall was up, she began typing.

"What are you doing?" Labramon asked, watching the two windows appear, each filled with code.

"Well," the hacker began. "When data gets deleted, it's never really gone for good. Especially if it's just dispersed. It had to go somewhere." A small smile graced her lips as a piece of the code in the left window lit up and the same piece appeared in the left window, remaining stationary while the rest of it ran by too quickly to analyze.

"What are you saying?" he asked.

Looking up from the codes, she whispered, "I think I can bring her back."

This caused the Rookie to stare in stunned silence. "But... we _saw_ her die... There's no way..."

Yumi shook her head. "No, we saw her data go everywhere. None of it disappeared, it just separated. But I managed to look at the codes that made me and the others. There were certain abnormalities in the codes that we all shared. I decided to take a look at that data and piece together what her code probably was. Now, I'm just letting it search for these pieces of data." She nodded toward the computer. "Once it's all there, I can compile it and... hopefully it'll put Miyuki back together."

"That's why you wanted a company laptop," Labramon said quietly in realization.

"That's right," the teen confirmed. "I needed a computer I knew would have the power to keep a project like this running nonstop." She looked at her partner. "You can't tell the others, though."

"Why not?" he asked, confused. "I mean, this is _awesome_ news!"

"Only if it works," she informed him. "If I tell the others and this turns out to be a bust... Well... I don't want to get anyone's hopes up for nothing."

"I get it," Labramon said with a nod. "It'll be our little secret."

"Thank you."

 **Next time:  
Yue: We just got a report of a large 'bird ninja' creature in the shopping district of the city.  
Kiira: I thought they could only come through here...  
Hana: Guess Diaboromon managed to expand his influence. You know what this means.  
Yumi: I just hope we don't end up causing too much damage.  
Labramon: Or a huge scene.**

 **Okay, well, here we are, done with episode 17. I gotta admit, this is one of those ones that I kinda** _ **didn't**_ **want to write. It was really only the parts with Yumi and her hacker-ness that I enjoyed. I hope that information about Trojan horses and back doors were accurate. My dad works with computers for a living, and I asked him, but I just hope I interpreted the information I was given correctly. If I was not, please let me know and correct me.**

 **See ya on the flipside~ Elisa out~**


	18. Hiatus

**Okay, before anything else, I would like to say that this is NOT due to a lack of reviews. I am not being a brat about that, so please don't think that is the case.**

 **To tell the truth, I've lost interest in this story. I don't really have any excitement or joy in writing it anymore, and I don't want you, the readers, to suffer for it. I don't want to post episodes that are mediocre at best, just to get something out there. It's a struggle to pull together the motivation to sit down and write this story right now.**

 **I really want to finish it, I just can't do that right now. This hiatus is only TEMPORARY. I will be getting back to it, probably in mid-December, since I'll have a lot more free time to work when I need to.**

 **I'm really sorry to pull out on you guys like this, and I'm sorry I couldn't get this up last week. Again, though, Digimon Hacked! will be back in a few months, so please be patient for me.**


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